Genesis 5 Destiny
by SpencerandHotchlover
Summary: Sequel to Genesis 1, 2, 3 and 4 This involves two other original characters. Patrick finds his mate who happens to be Scott's sister who is also extremely sick with leukemia. Will she be saved?


Genesis V

Dynasty

Patrick lay beside Julia holding her tenderly in his arms talking to her softly as she continued to scream so loudly that he was surprised they couldn't hear in the next county. Boy did his mate have a good set of lungs! And she wasn't even a vampire yet!

Patrick knew that his life has been changed forever when he had come to the house in Houston just to visit his parents and found Scott's four human siblings sitting in the den. When he had first laid eyes on Scott's oldest sister Julia it was like being struck by lightning. He had actually been tongue-tied for several minutes unable to articulate any words at all and that had never happened to him before as he had always had plenty of self-confidence. It didn't matter to him that Julia only had very short hair as thanks to her chemo treatments it had fallen out and had just started to grow back, or the fact that she was so thin from not eating because she didn't have any appetite, that she was nothing but skin over bone, with no body fat whatsoever, no what really mattered was her soul for as Patrick looked in her vibrant green eyes he had immediately wanted to drown himself in them.

Mine! his demon had demanded immediately. Bite her! She is mine and no one else's!

It hadn't taken Patrick very long at all figure out that Julia was his mate as he felt very protective of her just like his dad did his mom and vice versa, of course. His parent's of course had immediately known what was happening and had been very amused as well as ecstatic that he had found his mate, when he had least been expecting it. Patrick knew all his parents wanted for him or any of his siblings was for them to be happy and not lonely and up until Patrick had met Julia he had been pretty content with just his family, although he had often felt lonely too.

Not biting Julia immediately had taken a lot of willpower and he'd told his demon that he would have to wait at least a few days so that he and Julia could get to know each other at least a little and that it was her decision when she wanted to go through the very painful transformation.

Julia let loose another scream and Patrick's heart shattered yet again as he hated to see his mate in such pain even though he knew that her pain was a necessary part of changing into a vampire.

Luckily Julia was almost done with the transformation and really it shouldn't be more than another couple of hours at most before he and Julia would never be separated again. Patrick at first couldn't believe that it had been almost three days since he had it bitten her, but glancing at the bedside clock that showed the days as well as the time assured him that it had indeed been almost 3 days and that his mate's ordeal was almost over and the sooner the better as far as he was concerned.

The things he could imagine doing with her, Patrick thought imagining how they would stay in bed for months at a time and make love, which was a very pleasant prospect. In fact it was more than pleasant if you wanted the truth. It wasn't that he hadn't had sex before, but they had almost always been human, with a few vampire females thrown in here and there, throughout the years. He had, of course, had to drain all the humans afterwards not caring about them in least like he did Julia as having sex with them had only been to relieve his sexual tension not because he cared about those human females at all. The thing was that there would be no one else he would even look at as a prospect now that he had found his mate in Julia. Julia was everything to him from this moment on and in fact had been from the moment he had met her.

Patrick let his mind wander to all the places he would like to show her that he had visited alone before, but now with Julia it would be more fun than him going by himself. He had been to Italy just wandering around taking in some of the tourist attractions, but he wouldn't mind going back and showing Julia what he had discovered. Also he had discovered many other places in different countries, things that most people had never seen that he would love to show his love. Patrick knew also that he and Julia wouldn't have to worry about going out in the sun thanks to that new synthetic blood that the human scientists had invented, so they could go out anytime they wanted both in the daytime and at night and stay out for days a time if they so desired.

They would, of course, have to get Julia past her first couple of years as a new vampire before he could even think about the two of them going off on their own, but once they were he and Julia could explore the world or they could go to his house he had bought about 50 years ago and stay there for years only going out to hunt if they wanted.

Suddenly Patrick was thrown out of his thoughts as Julia's heart began to beat even more frantically than it had been just a second ago and then finally slowed down giving just a couple of final beats before stopping completely, which meant that Julia transformation was now complete.

Patrick was off the bed in an instant and standing on the side where Julia was laying waiting for her to open her eyes.

Julia opened her eyes at the feel of the mattress springing back up where it had been pressed down because of Patrick's weight. She looked around the room trying to remember if it seemed familiar and also who she was as at the moment she couldn't remember. Julia finally met Patrick's eyes and when she did so she had a flash of memory of him telling her that he loved her and that they were mates.

"Julia? Do you remember me at all?" asked Patrick trying to sound calm and collected, although on the inside he was anything but as he was quite anxious, although he tried his best not to show it.

The now named Julia thought about it and then asked, "Patrick, is that your name or am I way off base?"

"That's right," Patrick said looking relieved that Julia at least remembered his name.

"Am I mistaken in the fact that you told me that we were mates?" asked Julia. "And is that the reason I feel this very strong pull in your direction?"

"No, you are not mistaken and yes, that is why you feel the pull in my direction just like I feel one in yours," Patrick said. "How do you feel?"

"Strange," Julia said after thinking about it for moment. "I seem to have a very vague memory of being very ill and that some doctor told me I was going to be dead in a couple of months and that there was nothing he could do?"

"You were indeed very ill," Patrick say not daring to approach Julia just yet, although he longed to hold her in his arms. "You had leukemia, do you remember?"

"Sort of," Julia answered after a moment. "It's not clear though."

"Really that is to be expected," Patrick told her, gently. "Tell me something Julia, isn't your throat burning like crazy?"

"Now that you mention it…" Julia said her voice, which was now much stronger than when she had been so ill, had dropped an octave as well, which made her sound even sexier as far as Patrick was concerned. Julia's hand automatically went to her throat as if she could quench the burning from that gesture alone.

"Let's go get you fed," Patrick said holding out his hand for Julia to take. Julia looked at Patrick's hand and then took it tentatively using it to get to her feet even though she didn't really need to.

Julia took a tentative step remembering that she had been to weak to walk on her own for several months when she was human, but now her muscles felt strong and not weak like they had been from her long illness as a human.

"Would you like to see what you look like now that you are a vampire, before we go and get you some blood?" Patrick asked. "You really do look very different you know, as you're no longer emaciated like you were before you were changed."

Julia nodded so Patrick led her to the bathroom where there was a large mirror over the sink and Julia studied her reflection noticing that her flesh had filled out from what she remembered it being as a human as she remembered not being able to eat much because of the leukemia. Also her beautiful, red, curly hair had also grown by at least 3 or 4 inches and now hung almost down to her shoulders, which was a relief to her as she wouldn't have wanted to live the next five hundred years or more having hair that barely covered her scalp.

"My hair..." Julia began.

"Yes, your hair grew quite a bit more than I expected it to," Patrick admitted as he took Julia by the hand and led her out of the room and down the stairs to the basement where over a hundred humans were being kept for her and her siblings to feast off of and new ones were were being brought in practically every day so that the cellar was always well supplied.

Julia smelled the blood and heard the frantic heartbeats of over a hundred humans even before Patrick opened the door to the basement where the humans were being kept and before she knew it her instincts had taken over and she was down the basement stairs in less than a second latching onto a random human's neck just another second after that.

When she had finished draining the fella she dropped the body to the flagstone floor of the basement and grabbed another human at random not really caring if it was man or woman just so long as she could stop the burning in her throat.

Once Patrick saw that Julia knew what to do—not that he was very surprised considering that a vampire had strong instincts when it came to feeding—he raced down the stairs to join her as he was quite thirsty as he hadn't had blood in a week and worrying about his mate had only helped speed the process along to where he was very thirsty indeed.

The two of them instinctively shared the last human holding hands as they both drank from the woman together. When the woman was drained Patrick dropped the dead body to the floor, but did not release Julia's hand as he loved feeling her soft skin against his own.

"Full?" Patrick asked.

"Yes," Julia agreed feeling very full indeed and her throat had stopped burning as well, which was a great relief.

"Good, then let's get out of here as your two brothers and sister should be done with their transformations anytime now and I'm sure you'll want to see them."

"My brothers? Sister?" asked Julia momentarily confused, but then several memories flashed into her mind very clearly and she saw her two brothers and her sister that looked enough like her that they had to be related.

"Yes, you have to have three brothers and one sister, but Scott has already been a vampire for over two years already so I didn't count him just a second ago."

"Scott," Julia said with longing in her voice remembering her brother who had been disowned by her parents, which she for some reason very clearly remembered.

"Do you remember any of them at all?" asked Patrick a little tentatively.

"Yes, once you mentioned Scott I remembered my oldest brother quite clearly," Julia told him.

"Good," Patrick said with a smile.

"So what are the names of my other two brothers, and my sister?" asked Julia clearly wanting to remember her family.

"Well, the one with the red hair like yours is Henry and he's just a few minutes younger than you as you, him and your other sister Alisa are triplets."

"So Alisa has black hair, like Scott?" asked Julia as she remembered a pretty young woman with black, curly hair and facial features similar enough to her own that they had to be related.

"Yes she does and even though you shared a womb and look very similar it is nearly impossible to tell that you are triplets, unless you tell someone or they already know."  
"And who is the other boy who looks as if he is about 18 in my memories."

"That's Jason, your youngest brother and you got his age spot on because he is 18 and now he shall remain so forever or at least he will physically," Patrick said.

Patrick led into the den and the the two of them joined Bella who was already there.

"How are you doing, Julia?" Bella inquired gently.

"I'm okay," Julia finally answered the strange woman who she only vaguely remembered.

"Oh, Julia, this is my mother, Bella Whitlock," Patrick introduced belatedly just realizing that Julia would probably not remember his mom as they had only known each other for a day before her change after all.

"Who's that screaming at the top of their lungs?" asked Julia. "It sounds as if several someone's are being tortured."

Patrick and Bella snickered a little of that and then sobered.

"That, Julia, are your three siblings going through the transformation, which they should be done with just about anytime now," Bella explained.

"Why do they sound as if they're being tortured?" Julia asked again wincing at the sound of the screams as the loud noise hurt her very sensitive hearing.

"Because I'm afraid the transformation is a very painful process," Patrick gently explained. "You did the same thing until you were finished and woke up as a vampire."

"I did?" asked Julia with a raised eyebrow.

"You did," Patrick confirmed. "Don't you remember being in incredible pain and feeling as if your whole body was being dipped in boiling lava and that you were being skinned alive, all at the same time?"

"Now that you mention it..." Julia said as she remembered being in incredible pain for a very long time and then quite suddenly the pain had been gone and she had wondered if she was dead. "I thought I was in hell as the pain was so bad that all I wanted it to do was stop and then suddenly it did. At first I wondered if I was dead and then I felt the mattress spring back up from where it had been depressed and my throat started to burn so I figured I couldn't be dead like I thought."

"The mattress springing back up as you put it was me getting up as I stayed with you for the whole three days.

"Yes I remember your voice talking to me the whole time I was going through the change," Julia said as she remembered. "I also remember how you held me doing transformation as well and how no matter how much pain I was in it felt incredibly right to be laying there in your arms."

Patrick put his arms around his mate and Julia didn't look like she was in any danger of objecting as being in Patrick's arms felt like where she belonged.

Bella watched her son and Julia in satisfaction and gave herself a mental fist pump as just looking at them together made her nostalgic, for they looked very much in love just as Jasper and her were. Now if only the rest of her children would find their own mates her family would finally be complete. Well, maybe not complete and Bella longed for grandchildren, but it would still be nice to see all her children as happy as she and Jasper had always been.

Patrick kissed Julia on the nose and then claimed her lips as his own for the very first time. As soon as their lips met sparks began to dance between their joined skin just as it had when they had held hands while draining that woman together.

The two of them kissed for what seemed like forever, but when they finally broke apart it was only a couple of minutes later.

"Wow!" Julia exclaimed feeling dizzy even though that should have been impossible since she was now a vampire

"Yeah, whoah!" Patrick said as kissing other woman in the past had never felt as right as kissing Julia did.

"Are you two finished?" Bella asked the amusement clear in her tone.

"Uh, no?" Patrick answered looking his mother with a twinkle in his red eyes. "Does that answer your question mom? I intend to kiss Julia a lot whether there are other people around or not, thank you very much."

Bella chuckled at her son's words not seeming to mind Patrick's sarcasm at all.

"Good you should never let anybody else interfere in your relationship as you are the only ones that have the right to do that."

"Can I ask you a question?" asked Julia looking at Bella.

"Of course, Julia, you can ask me anything you want to and I will do my best to answer it. You are now my daughter as you now have Patrick's venom running in your veins and that automatically makes you a Whitlock. When you and Patrick get married someday that will make you related to me in two ways instead of one."

Julia nodded seeming relieved that she wasn't going to be fussed at for asking questions. "I wanted to ask you where Scott was as shouldn't he be here since he is my brother?"

"Your brother will be back shortly as he just went into town with Bryon to do a favor for Jasper," Bella explained. "He didn't want to leave, but he would've just stayed down here and paced worrying about all of you, so Jasper and I wanted to keep him busy so he didn't wear a hole in the carpet. He and Bryon have been running errands for Jasper and I for the last few days. Also Bryon is doing his best to keep him distracted as well."

"Ah, well that explains it," Julia said looking faintly relieved that Scott would be back soon as she had been vaguely worried since from what she remembered of her brother he never would have left while his family was being turned into vampires.

"I seem to remember that he loved all of his siblings very much that he always looked after us when mom and dad were off doing their own things and should have been taken care of us."

"I know I probably shouldn't say this, but I'm almost sorry you're parents are dead, because that means that they are beyond my retribution," Patrick said looking fierce and protective. "What they did to you, your siblings, and to your brother was much worse in my opinion then what us vampires do in order to stop the burning in our throats."

"What did my parents do to Scott?" asked Julia. "I'm getting flashes of memory, but I don't quite recall..."

"They tried to force your brother to sign of marriage contract when he was just barely 18 and had just finished high school," Bella explained. "They suspected he was gay you see, although they never had any proof of it, so they tried to force his hand and get him married off. Scott, of course, didn't want to sign his life away to a girl that he thought of like a sister and by that point in time he had figured out that he liked the boys instead of girls and so definitely never wanted to marry some girl just so he could have children of his own someday. I'm afraid your parents threatened to disown him if he didn't change his mind within the week and sign the contract, but Scott decided that very day to instead just run away and be done with his parents entirely and what he felt was his very restrictive life. Your parents, of course, disowned him anyway when they found out he was missing and that his car and all of his transportable possessions were gone."

"I remember," Julia said slowly as Bella's story had brought several memories to the forefront of her mind. "I remember that my siblings and I were never told exactly why Scott was disowned just that we were never to speak or mention his name again. When Scott disappeared it hurt all of us, but we gradually figured out that it was something our parents had done to him instead of something Scott had even though they would have claimed otherwise."

Bella and Patrick snorted at that, knowing what Julia said was very true.

"Look we can finish talking about this some other time if you want, but your three siblings should be done feeding any minute now," Patrick said, "and I don't think we need to bring this up in front of them unless they ask."

"You're right," Julia said in agreement burying her head in Patrick's chest, breathing in his scent as he smelled absolutely divine, to her anyway.

"I meant to ask you Julia if you were feeling stronger then you were as a human?" asked Bella. "I know that the leukemia you had made you to weak to walk, especially for the last several months."

"Yes, from what I can recall I feel about 1000 times better than when I was human as I seem to remember that the leukemia would have killed me in just a couple more months and also that I was even too weak to walk on my own like you said," Julia answered. "My body feels…" Julia paused as if trying to find the right words and then finally said, "…as if I have so much energy that I could take on the world and win. My muscles feel much, much stronger then I ever remember them being even when I was in peak physical shape, back before I got leukemia in the first place."

"Good, that is how you should feel," Bella said looking satisfied. "You will never have even a minor cold ever again now that you are a vampire."

"Which is fine with me, because if I never hear the word leukemia again it will be too soon," Julia said.

"I'm just eternally grateful, that your brother decided to check up on all of you when he did, because if he hadn't, you would be dead and I never would have been as happy as I am now," Patrick said looking very upset at that prospect, which neither Julia or Bella could really blame him for.

"That goes for me as well," Julia told Patrick lifting her head enough from his shoulder to kiss the cleft in his chin. "It's true that I don't remember much of my human life, but I do remember that I dated this boy… for quite a long time and that he never made me as happy as you do."

Patrick didn't have a chance to answer Julia as at that moment her other three siblings came into the den followed by Jasper and also Bryon and Scott who had returned from town.

"Scott!" Julia exclaimed jumping off Patrick's lap and running towards her brother. Scott was there and caught her in his arms, as she reached him and swung her around causing her to laugh and give him a kiss on the cheek.

"It's so good to see you so healthy," Scott told his sister as he examined her closely. "You look a thousand times better then you did when you were human."

"I feel 1000 times better too," Julia told him giving him another kiss on the cheek.

"What do you remember of your human life?"

"Just flashes here and there," Julia said with a shrug not mentioning the story Bella had told her. "I really don't remember much at all if you want the truth. I remember you you and my other brothers and sister, and some of my childhood, but not really much more,"

"That's not necessarily a bad thing you know," said an unfamiliar male voice that made Julia jump a little as she was startled.

Julia turned around and to see who had spoken and Jasper said, "Sorry I didn't mean to startle you as I really should know better. By the way I'm Jasper Whitlock and Patrick is my son."

"I do remember you, very vaguely," Julia said slowly as if trying to recall something that was deeply buried, "and what I seem to remember is that you and your wife welcomed all of us into your home even though it disrupted your lives."

"We could do nothing less," Jasper told her with a small smile and twinkle in his red eyes, "besides disruption occasionally is a good thing as life could become very stagnated and boring if nothing shook it up occasionally. Besides Scott was already a part of our family and we just couldn't not do something to help all of you since Scott remembered you and still loved you very much."

"You got that right," Scott said from where he was sitting on the floor with Bryon sitting between his legs, his head back against Scott's chest.

"And what are we, chopped liver?" asked another new voice that Julia vaguely recognized so she wasn't startled like when Jasper had spoken to her. Julia slowly turned and stared at the red headed man that seemed vaguely familiar and she remembered Patrick telling her that this was her brother Henry, while the other two were Alisa and Jason. Luckily her brothers and sister were easy to tell apart even though she remembered Patrick telling her that she, Henry and Alisa were triplets born from the same womb. Really Alisa didn't look anything like her and Henry although she did look like Scott and Jason which meant that she really was her sister but she sure didn't look like she had shared the same womb with her and Henry, even if she had.  
Julia studied her three other siblings and slowly a lot of her human memories involving them and then begin to flash through her mind, although in her memories they all looked a lot different, as their features were more...coarse, she guessed was the word, but then so were hers. Probably that was only because she and her siblings were still human and not vampires in her memories as she had almost absently noticed when she was human that all the vampires she had met were extremely handsome or gorgeous, looking almost like gods or goddess depending if it was a man or woman she was looking at. Now though that she had her new vampire eyesight she could tell that every vampire in the room had gone from just being extremely gorgeous or handsome to inhumanely so, which only made sense she supposed as she knew that her eyesight was about 100 times better then it had been as a human.

All these thoughts went through Julia's mind in the space of a few seconds and then she was answering her brother Henry who had asked if they were chopped liver and she said, "No, Henry, you, Alisa, and Jason aren't chopped liver as you put it, you are my family and I love you and Scott to, of course," Julia added almost as an afterthought winking in her oldest brother's direction.

"Hey!" Scott protested even though he knew Julia was joking.

Henry's face had lit up at Julia's words as had Alisa's and Jason's and Alisa asked, "You remember us then? Jasper did warn us that since your body was so weak from the leukemia that you might not remember very much after the transformation. He wasn't absolutely sure though since he has never encountered another vampire that had cancer before being turned."

"Yes," Julia said slowly. "I do remember you, although you look very different from what my memories are telling me you looked like before."

"So do you, sis," Jason told his sister. "You certainly look, healthier, I guess is the word, then you have in a very long time. You no longer look emaciated like you did after you came down with cancer. Actually seeing you look like you should if you had never gotten cancer in the first place is...really nice," Jason admitted seeming to have trouble coming up with the word he was looking for. Jason looked his sister up and down noticing that her skin had filled out and had a healthy appearance despite it now being completely dead white.

"So where do we go from here?" Alisa asked Jasper looking directly at him not seeming to be afraid of his scars although Jason and Henry sure were avoiding looking at him at the moment and also staying as far away from him as they could, which Jasper didn't take offense at as he knew that their instincts were telling them that he was dangerous and to either fight of flee, which he knew would fade in a few months time. That neither Julia or Alisa, or even Scott when he had originally been changed hadn't feared him at all from the first had genuinely astonished him as he definitely had expected them to be terrified of him and his scars.

"Well, my family and I need to start teaching all of you to control your strength for one thing so that you don't crush things unless you want to," Jasper said after moment. "Also you will need to feed every couple of days until after your newborn year is over and then after that gradually, almost like a teenager growing out of his 'I am always hungry' stage, you'll be able to go a couple of weeks before you need to feed, depending on what you've been doing of course. Also for the next year all four of you are going to have to watch your strength very carefully as all of you are much stronger than an older vampire, but after that your strength should fade to what is normal for our kind, although you will still have to be careful around humans since you will now always be much stronger than them."

All four newborns listened as Jasper described what he and his family would be teaching them for the next year although that didn't necessarily include Julia as she and Patrick needed time to really get to know each other and bond, which both were anxious to do, Patrick in particular.

"So you're saying that for the next year we're going to eat like we have bottomless pits for stomachs and you're going to train us to control our strength and to use all of our abilities to their fullest, is that correct?" asked Jason.

"Yes," Jasper answered calmly. "Also after your newborn year I will be teaching you how to fight, which I'm quite good at if I do say so myself."

All the Whitlocks in the room tried not to snort at how their father or husband downplayed how good he was when it came to fighting.

"Why?" asked Henry curiously not that he objected mind you, but he did want to know why Jasper thought it was necessary to teach them such skills.

"Because there are a lot of dangerous vampires out there in the world and you need to know how to defend yourself just in case you run across some of them when you are traveling on your own," Jasper explained. "Just because my family is relatively civilized doesn't mean others of our kind are the same way and in fact most are not."

Henry nodded as that made sense now that Jasper had explained his reasoning for wanting to teach all of them how to defend themselves.

"And after that?" asked Julia from where she was sitting on Patrick's lap with her head on his shoulder.

"Well, after that you're welcome to do some traveling if you want to get away from the house and the family for awhile, but of course you always welcome to stay with us, wherever we are too," Jasper told them.

"You will always be welcome whenever we are living at the time and in fact since all of you have Whitlock venom running in your veins you are considered officially Whitlocks no matter what names you choose to go by as that is the way of the vampire world.

"What does that mean?" asked Jason curiously.

"Well, it means you have a certain amount of protection from other vampires who would want to hurt you just because they can. I have quite the fearsome reputation among vampire kind, which will protect you to a certain extent because quite frankly most vampires are afraid of me."

"And they should be," Patrick commented speaking for the first time in awhile.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Alisa.

Scott immediately knew where the story was going and so paid special attention to his siblings reactions.

"Well almost 30 years ago now we had some vampire nomads who wanted shelter for a few days and dad didn't see any problem with granting their request, although as a precaution there was always more than one person home just in case the nomads meant trouble. None of us was sure you see if they could be trusted and within a week they betrayed that trust when they tried to rape my sister Chloe."

"They didn't!" Julia gasped in total shock. "They abused your hospitality and tried to rape your sister? Didn't they realize that they were being watched?"

"I'm sure they did," Jasper said dryly, "they just didn't seem to care, well either that or they figured they could do whatever they wanted and that we wouldn't be able to do anything to them."

"To this day we're still not sure if they really were that stupid, or if they were just used to getting their own way, or if they had never heard of Jasper Whitlock who survived some of the toughest fighting known vampire kind, which is why he has such as fearsome reputation, which was well and truly earned and of course, the scars on his arms and wrists should have given them some clue that he was very dangerous since it is extremely difficult to leave a mark on a vampire's skin."

"So what happened?" asked Alisa feeling distinctly sorry for Chloe who she had never met, but she was sure it hadn't been fun to be held against your will knowing what was going to happen if it wasn't stopped.

"Well, several of us were home besides Chloe," Patrick explained still furious over the incident even almost 30 years later when nomads were nothing more than ashes, "because as I said we were keeping an eye on them and when Chloe managed to scream we were up in her room in 10 seconds flat having obliterated the door in order to get in, since it was locked, tearing the nomads away from her. Once that was done and we were holding them prisoner glaring at them murderously I might add, it was decided that for their crime all of them would be torn apart and the pieces burned, which is really the only way to destroy one of our kind."

"Why not just give them a warning him go?" Julia asked not really upset, just curious.

"Because that would've meant trouble somewhere down the road, which we didn't need. Do a vampire injury or stop them from doing what they want and they will remember it forever and want to get revenge, even if that doesn't happen for five hundred years or more," Jasper explained. "Besides I'm sure that Chloe wasn't the only vampire female the nomads had done that too or at least tried and so it was just better to get rid of them completely so that they could cause no more harm. You will find I'm sure that most vampires are a very unforgiving race and although I am more forgiving then most try to do injury to one of my family and that is a sure fire way to get me angrier than you ever want to see me."

"The only reason that James, which was the name of the leader of the nomads tried to rape Chloe was because he thought he could have what he wanted and not have to face any consequences for his actions. He had already had his eyes on Chloe from the first and since my daughter didn't want anything to do with him he decided he would simply take her, do what he wanted and then throw her away like a piece of garbage."

"It doesn't help that Chloe is a lot shorter, and slighter then the nomads were either, because that meant that she couldn't just fight them off using her strength since they were bigger and therefore stronger," Bella explained still looking quite mad about what had happened and who could blame her really? "Chloe's never been quite the same since it happened as it's almost like her vitality or spark if you will has been drained right out of her and that she doesn't have any confidence in herself anymore."

"James, Victoria, and Laurent, found to their eternal damnation that that was not the case, as all of us took great pleasure in ripping the three of them apart, and then throwing the pieces onto the fire we had built one by one, leaving their heads for last, so that they could watch each part of their bodies burn," Patrick said smirking in satisfaction. "And yes, that includes Chloe, who can be just as vengeful and unforgiving as the rest of us as it was her after all that they tried to rape."

"Personally, I think those nomads got off more lightly then they deserved," Scott said. "I mean they took advantage of your hospitality to try and rape one of your daughters and they hadn't even been there a week."

"In this case Scott and I happen to agree as normally I'm not one for violence," Alisa said. "I think those nomads got what they deserved and really more than they deserved as if they'd tried to rape me I would've tortured them for a month or two before finally ending their miserable existences."

"Don't think I didn't consider it," Jasper told Alisa dryly with a wink.

"Let me guess, you make sure you tell that story to every vampire that comes to your door and wants to stay for a few days," Henry said. "You use it is kind of a warning to not try anything, am I right?"

"You are correct," Bella told him Henry with a smile in his direction. "It's worked so far as we've had several groups of vampire nomads, as well as single vampires visit us at our different houses over the last thirty years and telling them that story seems to make them think twice about causing trouble."

"Well, any nomads that visits would have to be totally brain dead to not realize that the story you were telling them was true and also that you brought it up for a reason. If they didn't realize that it was a warning to not cause any trouble or they would end up like the previous group then they really would be idiots," Julia suggested with a smirk not in the least upset about what had been done to the nomads for she had always thought that putting human rapists in prison didn't really do any good for as soon as they got out they went right back to their old ways and raped some other young girl and also a lot of the time they were never caught at all so she figured what the Whitlocks had done to the nomads had been more than they deserved.

Patrick gave Julia a look and nodded towards the stairs asking if she wanted to go to his room and she nodded eagerly as she had been quite looking forward to her and Patrick making love. In the last three days Patrick's family had gotten him a metal bed so that he and Julia wouldn't be able to destroy as easily as they would a wooden one and had even been nice enough to put it together for them and remove the couch and the table in front of it in order to make room for it. They had also of course bought sheets, a comforter and lots of extra pillows for it as well so it was ready to go and Patrick for one couldn't wait to give it it's initiation.

"If you'll excuse's us, Julia and I are going to go get better acquainted," Patrick told everybody in the room politely.

"Is that what they call it these days," Bryon said amused at the way his brother phrased the fact that he and Julia were about to head up to his bedroom to fuck each other senseless. He was actually kind of surprised that Patrick and Julia hadn't excused themselves already as he knew both were probably anxious to do what they couldn't while Julia was not only human, but very weak thanks to the cancer that had been running rampant in her body.

Patrick shot his brother a look, but didn't comment and just stood up making sure that Julia was held securely in his arms and carried her up the stairs leaving a roomful of very amused vampires.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

Patrick carried his mate into his bedroom, shutting the door with one foot and set her down on the brand-new metal bed that had been placed against the same wall where the couch had used to be. The bed was beautiful and had metal roses interwoven into the headboard that were so realistic they almost looked alive.

"Shall we get started?" Patrick asked Julia politely trying not to show how anxious he was as he wanted it to be her decision.

"You don't even have to ask," Julia told him as she looked up and down his body almost literally drooling. "I've wanted you since about a minute after we set eyes on each other and I've waited long enough to have you."

"Here, let me help you off with your clothes so that you don't rip them to shreds," Patrick offered and Julia nodded looking eager, which pleased Patrick that his mate desired him so much, just as he desired her. In fact...Patrick sniffed the air ...he could already smell her arousal and had been able to the second she had looked at his body, which she seemed to find pleasing. His mate smelled absolutely delectable normally as Patrick had noticed the second he had met her, but when she was aroused like she was now, she smelled even more exquisite, to him. His demon began to demand that he take her and make her his for the rest of eternity, whether he had her permission or not, and Patrick had a hard time controlling that part of him. That part of him that was animal kept throwing himself against the bars of the cage that were made up of Patrick's will power and stubbornness trying to escape, but Patrick made the bars even stronger and his demon finally gave up...for the moment anyway.

You will get what you want, be patient, Patrick told his demon sternly. I will not forcefully take her without her permission for she is our mate and she deserves our consideration and to not be attacked like an animal. I love her and you are supposed to love her to not just want to mate with her. We must think of her feelings and desires as well as our own.

His demon calmed down a little at Patrick's words knowing the more sensible part of himself was correct and that he, the demon part of Patrick did love Julia just as much as the more sensible, caring part did and therefore had to be patient, although that was hard.

Patrick began by very gently removing Julia's blouse opening each button and then pulling it off of her shoulders letting it drop to the floor. After that he popped the button on her pants, pulled the zipper down and then pulled them past her hips until they were able to fall to the floor as well. Julia stepped out of her pants and pushed them off to the side so that they weren't in the way and then stood there unselfconsciously letting Patrick examine her body from head to toe as it was clear that he loved what he saw.

"You're absolutely gorgeous," Patrick told Julia absolutely sincerely as he was unhooking her bra from the back and then pulling it off her shoulders and down her arms until it was free of her body and able to be tossed to the side. All that was left of Julia's clothes now was her panties and Patrick was very anxious to get them off as he was ready to dive into her pussy and never come out again. The fact that he could already smell his mate's arousal was making it hard for him to control himself, but since he wanted Julia's first time with him to be as pleasurable as possible he was going to take his time. He planned on worshiping every inch of her body, before he finally allowed himself to enter her for the very first time.

"Aren't you going remove my panties?" asked Julia after a moment when it was clear that Patrick wasn't going to remove her underwear quite yet.

"No, not quite yet," Patrick told her with a smug smirk. "I'm saving your pussy for last as before I let myself enter your curvy, beautiful, gorgeous, sexy body I plan on worshiping every single part of you."

Julia would have blushed if she could have, but thanks to the fact she was now a vampire that wasn't possible, but that didn't mean that she couldn't act all embarrassed at her mate's words.

"Why don't you lay on the bed?" Patrick suggested. "I'll be there in just a second as soon as I remove my clothes."

Julia did as she was asked and had just laid herself on her back on the brand-new mattress when Patrick joined her as he had gotten out of his clothes, except his underwear at vampire speed.

"I want you to know, that you are the most gorgeous, sexy creature on the face of the Earth to me," Patrick told her quite sincerely as he gently laid himself down on top of Julia and started running his hands up and down her body making Julia start to purr just from that little action alone. Patrick was being so gentle with her that she couldn't help but fall even more in love with him than she already was as she realized he was trying to make her first time with him as pleasurable as possible and genuinely make love to her instead of just fucking her senseless, although, Julia was sure that would do a lot of that to, but at a later date.

"I've wanted to do this..." Patrick said placing a little kiss on the hollow of her throat exactly where her pulse point would be if she was still human, "And this..." Patrick added nipping at her breast gently while at the same time licking her nipple into a little peak.

Julia let out a long, continuous groan of pleasure as Patrick continued to lick and nip his way all around her nipple and then stuck his tongue in the valley between her breasts and licked her there as well causing Julia to almost come off the bed and for her climax to climb even higher with that little action.

"More!" Julia begged her voice raspy with desire her hands twining into Patrick's long brown hair.

"I'm only getting started," Patrick assured his mate his red eyes filled with lust, love, and desire. "By the time I'm ready to finally enter into heaven I will have kissed every single inch of your body, from the top of your head to the middle of your stomach, to your gorgeous perfect round ass, to your thighs and feet."

Julia groaned as she imagined the pleasure that was about to come if Patrick really did what he was suggesting and she had absolutely no reason to doubt him.

"I hope that you will allow me to give you pleasure as well," Julia suggested just a little tentatively for she knew that some guys always had to be on top and never gave a woman a chance to take what was considered the dominant position.

"We are equal," Patrick told his mate looking directly into her eyes so that she could see that he was being absolutely sincere. He had to make sure she understood that they were absolutely equal in all things. "I promise you I won't object if you want to take the dominant position sometimes to give me pleasure and in fact I am looking forward to it quite eagerly as I can't wait to have your hands, mouth, lips and tongue all over me and I have a feeling that my climaxes will be quite explosive."

"Good," Julia said relieved that Patrick wasn't going to object if she wanted to top sometimes as she had several ideas she wanted to try and was ecstatically looking forward to doing the things her imagination had been coming up with ever since she had met him.

Patrick continued what he had been doing and by this time his cock was standing at attention and was leaking semen and venom that was soaking into his underwear, which he was by some miracle still wearing.

"I'm not sure how much longer I can last," Julia panted tightening her grip in Patrick's brown hair as she knew she was right on the edge of going over and Patrick hadn't even penetrated her pussy yet.

Patrick didn't answer but continued nipping, kissing and licking her inner thigh, but avoiding the spot Julia really needed him the most. By this time the tingling in Julia's stomach had grown so intense that she knew if she didn't get some relief soon she was going to quite literally explode from the tension that was quickly intensifying in her belly and the rest of her as well.

Julia whimpered and Patrick finally having finished licking both her inner thighs tore her panties clean off and then did the same to his, which told Julia he was ready to finally ready to ram himself into into her pussy, the place she needed him the most.

"I'll try to be as gentle as I can be," Patrick promised his mate his voice raspy with desire.

"You don't need to be gentle," Julia told Patrick. "Be as rough as you want or need to be, I don't mind, as it's not like I'm going to break apart now that I'm like you."

Patrick positioned his cock at his mate's entrance and slowly entered her, which was very easy to do because Julia was very wet and slick, which he had already known since her panties had been soaked completely though. Patrick stopped when he encountered virginity barrier as he hadn't realized that his mate was still a virgin as Julia hadn't mentioned it, but then she might not have remembered it after she was changed and she had had other things on her mind as a human.

 _Yes! She is completely and totally mine! No other man has ever touched her most private parts to give her pleasure and no man ever will, except me, for she is mine! Mine! Mine!_ Patrick's demon crowed in satisfaction in his head.

 _You mean she is ours,_ the more sensible and caring part of Patrick replied. _She is ours and no other man will ever touch her intimately except us._

 _Yes, ours,_ Patrick's demon agreed. _Ours and only ours for all time!_

 _Yes, both of us will protect her, love her, care for her and see that all her needs and wants are met for if we ever lose her we will die as well for it would be as if half our being had been ripped away,_ the sensible part of Patrick replied. _We will treat her as if she is a precious treasure that we can't bear to lose because as it happens that is exactly what she is to me._

 _And me!_ Patrick's demon exclaimed. _Yes, we will do all these thing and tear apart anybody who would dare hurt her!_

 _Yes, I completely agree that anybody—except the family as they don't count—hurts her mentally, physically, or emotionally then they will be dead soon after and that's a promise._

 _Good! We are in agreement then!_ Patrick's demon answered satisfied that he and the more caring sensible part of him were in complete agreement.

"Did you know, that you're still a virgin?" asked Patrick as he withdrew his cock and entered her slowly again stopping just before he broke her barrier.

"Am I?" asked Julia as she hadn't remembered that little detail after she had been turned into a vampire.

"You are, so I'm going to be as gentle as possible when I break it as I know it will be painful if only for a few minutes."

"It will be better if you just ram yourself into me so that you can break my barrier all at one time and that way the pain will be over more quickly," Julia suggested.

Patrick nodded as that made sense. "Alright. Prepare yourself."

Julia nodded and prepared herself for the pain she knew she was about to feel and Patrick seeing that she was ready rammed himself into her like Julia had suggested, instead of entering her gently like he had suggested before. Besides he knew his mate was right and the sooner he got her barrier out of the way the less pain there would be for his mate.

Julia bit her lip to prevent herself from crying out in pain as when Patrick broke her virginity barrier as it hurt quite a bit for it not only stung, but throbbed in pain as well.

Patrick held himself still through sheer force of will to give Julia time to not only get used to his intrusion, since he knew that like his father he was a big man in that particular area, but to also give time for the pain to fade from where he had broken her virginity barrier quite roughly at Julia's suggestion.

Once the pain had subsided Julia looked at her mate and Patrick getting the silent message thrust again into Julia's pussy before he released his cold seed, as he was unable to hold back any longer as he felt as if his whole body was going to explode if he didn't allow his release in the next few seconds. Just as he released his seed into his mate for the very first time he also instinctively bit down on the side of her neck at his demon's urging just as his orgasm exploded within him. At the same time Patrick's orgasm was exploding Julia's was climaxing as well. The very powerful orgasm just ripped through Julia was almost earthshattering and at the peak of her climax she felt her instincts take over. With her instincts in control of her actions she leaned up just enough to bite Patrick between the shoulder and the neck leaving a white crescent shaped mark with her teeth that would never fade away completely though it would become less visible after awhile. Once that was done Julia leaned back on the pillows as herself again as her orgasm continued to go through her giving her wave after wave of pleasure that took a very long time to finally subside.

"Whoah! That was something else," Patrick said finally as soon as he was sure he could speak.

"Yes, it was," Julia agreed with a satisfied smirk. "That was the strongest and longest orgasm I've ever had. Of course I've never had an orgasm at all unless you count the ones I got when I pleasured myself and they were mere pale ghosts in comparison," Julia said.

Patrick smirked again in satisfaction as it was gratifying to know that Julia had never had an orgasm with another boy before, which could be done even without the breaking of the virginity barrier.

"Can I ask you something?" asked Julia.

"Of course, ask me anything you want," Patrick said.

"Why did we bite each other there at the end?" asked Julia, curiously.

"Well, I meant to explain this to you before we made love for the first time, but I suppose that I was too distracted to remember at the time, but the reason we bit each other has a lot to do with instinct."

"What do you mean?" Julia asked.

"Well," Patrick began to explain, "vampires have very strong instincts when it comes to certain things and one of those things that brings out our races instincts is making love. When a vampire finds their true mate the urge to mark them will appear and that is exactly what happened."

"So you're saying that our instincts urged us to kind of mark what is our territory?"

"That's pretty accurate, actually," Patrick admitted. "It is called the mating mark and will warn other vampires to keep their hands off unless they want to be torn apart and burned for interfering with another's mate, which is against our laws by the way. Also it finalizes our bond, which was incomplete until we bit each other just like we did."

"I see," Julia said truly understanding, because she knew that some animals in nature were the same way and in that way vampires were apparently very similar to those animals or at least they were in certain ways.

"Now I need to tell you something." Patrick said.

"What's that?" asked Julia as she was quite anxious for another round of amazing sex as she wasn't the least bit tired, which wasn't surprising because as far as she knew vampires could keep going literally forever just so long as they kept themselves well fed.

"It's nothing bad or at least I don't consider it so," Patrick assured Julia seeing her worried expression. "I just wanted to warn you that although we have bit each other it will happen numerous times over the centuries we are together. It will not happen every time we make love, but the instinct will appear again depending on the situation. What I mean is that if one of us has been in danger for example then we will want to mark our mate again just so we know for certain that they are still with us."

Julia nodded in understanding and supposed it made a certain amount of sense as again some animals in nature were the same way.

"Now I have some else to to tell you before we can get back to what we were doing."

"What?" asked Julia a little warily seeing Patrick's pained expression.

"It's just that I'm going to do something that's going to hurt even more than when I broke your virginity barrier and I'm truly sorry, but it's necessary," Patrick told his mate looking upset at hurting her further.

"What are you going to do?" asked Julia just a little curiously. The only reason she wasn't more worried was because she knew that Patrick would never hurt her unless it was necessary.

"Well I'm going to stick my tongue up your pussy and then lick all around where your virginity barrier used to be and coat that area with my venom, which will hurt a great deal or at least that is what my father said."

"Why would you do that?" asked Julia sure that Patrick had a very good reason for what he was about to do.

"Because if I don't your virginity barrier will grow back and we'll have to go through the whole process again each time we make love. Once I coat that area with my venom it will be unable to grow back, but my venom will also sting and burn like acid and hurt much more then when I broke your barrier in the first place."

"Then go ahead and do it and let's get it over with so that we can go back to what we were doing, which I was enjoying very much just in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't as your face is very expressive and I could tell that you were enjoying yourself while in the throws of passion without you having to say anything it all," Patrick told Julia with a satisfied smile.

Julia couldn't help but smile back, an expression that reached her eyes, as she had come to love this man more than she thought she'd ever love anyone and he had only known him for a couple of days at this point.

Patrick sighed and knew he was stalling and so leaned down and stuck his tongue into Julia's pussy licking up all of her delicious wetness that was left over from her orgasm before pushing his tongue further into his mate's vagina and using it to locate where her barrier had used to be. As soon as he did so he ran his tongue over the area making sure to coat it with his venom throughly so that Julia's barrier would have no chance of growing back.

Julia for her part bit her lip as soon as the pain Patrick had promised came when her lover coated the area where her barrier used to be with his venomous tongue.

"You were right, it not only stings, but burns like fire as well," Julia said her voice sounding choked from pain.

"So my mother warned me, as dad had to do the same thing to her when they were first mated, because like you she was also a virgin," Patrick said hating to see his mate in pain, although he knew it had been necessary. At least this way he wouldn't have to keep breaking through her barrier every time they made love and they would be doing that a lot. "I am very sorry I had to cause you such pain, not only once, but twice," Patrick's apologized sincerely. "Just know that I love you and my love will only continue to grow as we get to know each other."

"Stop apologizing," Julia ordered leaning up just enough to give him a kiss on the lips to let him know that she wasn't upset with him. "You explained it was necessary and will prevent even more pain further down the road. If we intend on making love a lot, which I sincerely hope we do, then I would've hated for you have to push past my virginity barrier every time we did, so what you did was really a necessary step. Look at it this way, it's done, you won't ever have to do it again and my virginity barrier will have no chance of growing back, which if would have if you hadn't done what you did."

"You're right," Patrick said absorbing Julia's words extremely happy that she wasn't upset with him as he had been afraid that she would be since she was still a newborn after all and a lot of the time newborns were known to be extremely irrational at least according to his father who had reason to know.

"Of course I am," Julia told him with a smile leaning up just enough to kiss him on the nose. "Now I don't know about you, but I could use a nice, long shower, which you are welcome to join me for or not as it is your choice. You know very well I haven't been able to take a shower in months thanks to me being so weak from my long illness and even though I know I'm not really dirty I could still use one and since both of us are already naked we might as well take advantage of our state."

"I'll be happy to join you in the shower," Patrick said hoping he would be able to follow up on some of the scenarios he had of him and Julia in the shower fucking each other senseless.

"I knew you would be," Julia told him with a confident smile, already thinking of what she would like to do to him while they were using the shower.

Julia hopped out of bed and headed towards the bathroom Patrick following at vampire speed and therefore beating her there as Julia was walking at a human pace towards the large bathroom that was on the other side of the room.

"Cheater!" Julia told him laughingly.

"Personally, I think we're both winners," Patrick told Julia sincerely taking her in his arms and giving her a long kiss his tongue demanding entrance to her mouth, which Julia was happy to give him access to.

Both their tongues battled for dominance and by the time they broke the kiss it was quite awhile later for as vampires they could literally kiss forever since they didn't need to breathe.

"You know I've never enjoyed kissing so much," Julia commented as she and Patrick entered the bathroom and Patrick turned on the knob on the shower not allowing Julia do it as she hadn't had time to learn to control her strength quite yet and would have literally destroyed the knob without meaning to.

"Ahh!" Julia sighed as she stepped under the very hot spray that came out of the shower head. "That feels heavenly," Julia said closing her eyes just enjoying the hot water that came down on her a look of total bliss on her face.

Patrick who had joined her closed the shower door after them just watched Julia's expression of absolute bliss and thought not for the first time that she was the most beautiful creature on the face of the Earth.

"It is so good to be able to stand in the shower again, in order to get clean and not have to depend on my sister to give me a sponge bath, which never really made me feel clean as you know," Julia said opening he eyes and staring into Patrick's handsome face.

Patrick's inner vampire growled loudly and ferociously inside his head demanding that he take Julia again and that she was his, but Patrick got that part of himself under control and told it that his mate wasn't some kind of object to be used like that and only if Julia gave him permission would he fuck her. Patrick's inner vampire disagreed quite violently, but Patrick wasn't about to let that part of him take over as he wanted Julia to want to make love because if he forced her, instead of letting her come to him willingly that would almost be like raping her as making love or fucking each other as the case might be required mutual consent.

"Patrick," Julia said having opened her eyes while Patrick had been involved in getting his inner demon under control.

"Yes?" Patrick asked as he leaned against one of the shower walls.

"I want you to do something for me," Julia said with a little smile playing on her lips.

"What's that?" asked Patrick hoping Julia was thinking the same thing he was.

"I want you to fuck me, and in fact you have my blanket permission to take me whenever or however you want to for the rest of our time on this Earth and I promise you I will only not object, but participate willingly. Actually my demon is being very demanding at the moment and wants me to fuck you senseless, until you can't even see or walk straight."

The demon within Patrick crowed in triumph as he knew that he now had his mate's permission to do whatever he so desired to her as Julia knew that neither Patrick or his demon would never hurt the woman that they both loved with every atom of their souls.

"Well, in that case let us get started shall we?" Patrick said his voice husky his eyes having already gone totally black, not because he was thirsty, but because he could feel the desire coursing through his body that was so strong he was surprised he was still standing.

"Do you mind if I fuck you?" Julia asked Patrick almost shyly as she could imagine about 100 things that she would like to do to him not only in the shower but out.

 _She wants me!_ The demon within Patrick crowed and in this case Patrick could hardly blame him.

"I give you blanket permission to take me and do what you want to me, anytime or wherever you want to for the rest of our existences," Patrick told Julia his cock already standing at attention and had been for some time, not exactly repeating his mate's earlier words, but it was close enough.

"Good, now that we've gotten that out of the way…" Julia dropped to her knees and took Patrick's very large cock into her mouth licking the head and sucking it in partway while running her tongue all over it, almost massaging it.

Patrick groaned leaning against the shower wall as he knew that was the only way he would be able to keep standing as what Julia was doing to him was causing his legs to become quite weak so Patrick was sure that they wouldn't be able to support his weight

His mate was a goddess, and sex incarnate and he would be thanking every God he knew, every day for the rest of his existence for putting her in his path as he had never been so happy in his almost 170 years as he had been since he met her.

"Hmm, you taste delicious," Julia said as she continued to suck on his cock finally taking it all the way into her mouth, while at the same time using one hand to gently fondle his balls. "I could suck on your cock for the rest of my existence and be perfectly content," Julia said after a moment her voice husky with desire and longing.

"You're welcome to suck on my cock as much as you want," Patrick told Julia his voice a mere whisper of sound as he tried his best to not put one of his fists through the tile of the shower wall as Julia was causing him such intense pleasure to course through him that he couldn't even bear to think about the fact of what she would be able to do to him once she had a few decades of experience underneath her belt. God, he, Patrick Whitlock, really was one lucky son of a bitch! It was just a good thing that he was a vampire or Julia would more than likely kill him eventually just from the things that she did to him.

"I'm about to come!" Patrick warned his mate as his orgasm, which had been building all this time exploded within him and his cock, which had already been very engorged spurted his seed directly into his mate's mouth and Patrick watched through half slitted eyes as Julia swallowed every salty drop with a look of intense concentration and pleasure on her face.

It was quite a long time later that Patrick's seed finally stopped spurting and Julia released his cock from her mouth only to have it stand immediately at attention again ready to go.

Patrick continued to lean against the shower wall panting for some minutes trying to get himself back under control as his legs were still felt quite weak from his extremely intense orgasm.

It was sometime later that Patrick felt as if he could finally move without having to lean against the shower wall and as soon as he was sure he wasn't going to fall he turned off the shower, while watching Julia smirk at him her satisfaction apparent, just from her expression.

"Well, shall we retire to the bed or shall we go downstairs and join the family?"

"As much as I would like to continue this," Julia said her eyes black, which indicated that she was very thirsty which she confirmed a second later, "I need to eat and then we should probably join the family for awhile.

Patrick nodded looking a little disappointed, but knew that Julia was right that she did need to spend time with not only her siblings, but his family as well.

"Don't worry," Julia told Patrick seeing his downcast expression, "I guarantee that we will spend plenty of time fucking each other senseless, in between feedings that is and if it wasn't for my sense of responsibility we'd come directly back up here after we did finish draining a few humans."

"You're right, I know you are as we can't spend all of our time in bed not when I'm sure your siblings are all wondering where you are since it has been almost two days since we came up here, which is one reason you're so thirsty."

"And what's the other reason?" asked Julia with a smile already suspected she knew the answer.

"All the physical activity as I'm sure you suspected already," Patrick told her with a half smile of his own.

"Ahh! Just like I thought!" Julia exclaimed as she opened the shower door and stepped elegantly out gesturing at Patrick to follow, which he did without hesitation.

"Let's get dressed and go get us some blood," Julia said.

"I have a question for you," Patrick told Julia quite seriously as he went to his closet and got out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"What's your question?" asked Julia with a raised eyebrow.

"Well I was wondering if you wanted to go down to the basement and drain a few humans or if you would rather try that artificial blood that I told you about when you were human."

"What's the difference?" Julia asked.

"Well, there is only a little difference tastewise at least. Also the artificial stuff is thicker then the real thing as well," Patrick explained with a shrug. "My family discovered that when we drink the artificial blood once a week or so we won't sparkle like a million tiny diamonds in the sun, so all of us have been mixing it up and drinking it out of thermoses at least that often although we still hunt a great deal too. Think of drinking the synthetic like taking some nasty medicine that is necessary to get better, although in this case it isn't to make us well, but to stop us from sparkling in the sun, although you have to admit there are a lot of similarities."

Julia stared at him in astonishment as if Patrick had just grown two heads. "Are you telling me that vampires used to sparkle in the sun before this synthetic blood was invented a few years ago?"

"Yes," Patrick said who couldn't really blame Julia for her astonishment as he supposed it was pretty surprising when he thought about it, not that he ever had before and he guessed that was because he had actually grown up with sparkling in the sun, while Julia hadn't. "We could never visit places like Arizona for example a few years ago or if we did we were only able to go outside of wherever we were staying at night as that particular state is always sunny since it is located in the desert. Really the new artificial blood has opened up all of the world to us, not to mention we no longer have to check the weather report to make sure its either cloudy or rainy when we want to go out somewhere in the daytime."

"So the time of day is no longer a barrier to our kind," said Julia slowly as she absorbed the information she had just been given.

"No, it isn't," Patrick told her. "We can now go to places like Egypt if we want just to explore the country, which we could never do before because Africa is always sunny except during the rainy season that is and since I never felt like going at that time of year, because I for one can't enjoy myself if I feel like a half drowned rat. It's not that I mind a little rain, but I just don't feel like going and getting soaked every time I go outside while I was exploring the country and going to the famous sites like Abu Simbel."

"That makes sense," Julia agreed. "I know I can't get sick anymore, but as you said who can enjoy themselves when they are soaked to the skin?"

"Exactly," Patrick agreed. "But now that the sun will no longer make us sparkle so long as we drink a thermos of that synthetic blood at least once a week we can go anywhere we want to including Africa, Arizona or any other place that is almost always sunny if we so desire. Of course, the sooner you start drinking that synthetic blood the better as it takes awhile to build up in your system to have that effect. Really you should try to do it at least every other time you feed for the next year so that when you are able to go out in the daytime and be around humans as it will have built up enough in your system that you won't ever sparkle at all no matter how sunny it is."

Julia considered that for a moment then nodded. "I believe your right, so this time I'll simply sit on the couch in the den and visit with my siblings and drink a thermos of that artificial blood, but if I'm still thirsty afterwards…"

"Then you can go down into the basement like you did before and drain one of those humans dry," Patrick said. "In fact you probably still will be thirsty, since you are still a newborn who isn't even a week old at this point. It will take awhile to get where you only need to feed once every couple of weeks, except for drinking a thermos of that synthetic blood once a week, of course."

Julia nodded as that made a certain amount of sense. Patrick finished getting dressed and then helped her put on her shirt and pants, so that she wouldn't rip them to shreds on accident. Patrick didn't bother with her bra or panties, which Julia didn't seem to mind so when they were done they headed downstairs to spend some time with both their families.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

"Well, look who decided to finally show their faces!" Jason the youngest Blackwood snarked as Julia and Patrick came down the stairs and into the den fully dressed holding hands.

Julia rolled her red eyes at her youngest brother who would now and forever look just 18 since that was the age he was changed. "Grow up!" Julia told Jason quite vehemently.

"Jason," Scott added disapprovingly giving his youngest brother a look from where he was sitting beside Bryon on the couch. "We've been over this, multiple times, so it isn't like you don't know what's going on. What have several people told you?"

"That mated couples need to spend a great deal of time alone together, especially while the bond is still new," Jason repeated what he had been told at least 10 times in the last two days. "That the mating bond needs time to mature and this takes anywhere from 10 years to longer depending on how strong the bond between the couple is."

"So you did remember what you were told and yet you still chose to make a sarcastic comment," Scott said giving his brother another disapproving look. "I know that this is all new to you, really to all of you, but you must put your sister's feelings ahead of your own. As you should be able to tell Julia is so happy that she is practically bouncing as she walks and if the smile on her face is any indication I would say she is way beyond happy."

Jason hung his head in shame as the words had just escaped his mouth before he could stop them. He had always been bad about speaking before he thought when he was growing up and even though he was now a vampire it was no different.

"It isn't that Julia loves you any less than she did before, but at the moment she and Patrick need to work on their relationship," Scott added in a gentler tone surveying his younger brother for a moment and decided that Jason had gotten the point and he didn't need to continue his lecture as beating that kind of drum to long would only make Jason resent him and besides Jason got the point so there was really no point in continuing.

As Scott had been lecturing his younger brother, Patrick had gone into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, taken out some of the synthetic blood that was in a covered pitcher and then poured it into two available thermoses before putting one of them into the microwave in order to heat it up and once that was done he did the other.

"Here you go," Patrick told Julia coming back into the den where Julia was curled up in one of the big comfortable chairs, almost like a cat, handing her the thermos with the synthetic blood. Julia took it it gingerly as she didn't want to destroy it on accident because of her newfound strength and took a sip.

"You were right, this isn't too bad, but it does taste different from the real deal," Julia said as she swallowed the burn in her throat immediately lessening although it was far from gone.

Julia got out of her chair and allowed Patrick to sit down and then she sat back down as well on his lap, curling up, laying her head against her mate's shoulder, taking another sip of blood from the thermos.

"By the way, congratulations, you two," Scott added after a moment as he saw the identical pair of mating marks on the two, right on the junction where the shoulder met the neck.

"Yeah congratulations," Bryon said speaking for the first time since Patrick and Julia had entered the room. He grinned at his older brother and Patrick smiled back looking so happy that Bryon was surprised that he wasn't dancing on a table, though Bryon could hardly blame him for his brother's rather sappy grin since he often felt that way himself ever since he had discovered his mate in Scott.

"Thanks," Patrick said with an earthshattering grin.

"Yeah, thanks," Julia added her two cents worth as she took another sip of blood from her thermos.

"You're welcome," Scott said who liked seeing his sister so happy, because from what he had learned from his other siblings his oldest sister hadn't been happy in a very long time thanks to the leukemia, not to mention her very bad breakup, with Jack had not helped. Scott growled softly as he thought of that and wanted to go back to Melrose and drain that no good wanker dry and only Bryon had stopped him from doing that by saying it was suspicious enough that all four Blackwoods had disappeared at the same time with no signs of a struggle, which included a very sick Julia. They didn't need to make people even more suspicious then they were and if Jack were to disappear they would be or him turning up dead would be just as bad if not worse.

Julia finished the thermos of blood in record time and then looked at Patrick to let him know that her throat was still burning a little and that she needed some more blood. Patrick nodded and Julia got to her feet, Patrick doing the same.

"Where are you two headed?" asked Henry with a raised eyebrow.

"Down to the cellar to get me a human to drain," Julia answered matter-of-factly heading in that direction. "While that thermos of blood helped I'm still thirsty. After that, I believe me and Patrick have other things to keep us occupied and will for the foreseeable future."

"I don't think you need to draw any of us a digram, sis," Alisa commented dryly speaking for the first time since Julia and Patrick had come downstairs.

"I would hope not," Julia told her sister with a wink.

"We'll see you all sometime," Patrick said. "Of course, it might not be a quite a long while."

Patrick's smug tone of voice made everyone cough in order to cover their laughs, because Patrick had every reason to be smug since none of them had a gorgeous new mate to fuck senseless constantly.

Patrick and Julia disappeared out the doorway of the den and headed in the direction of the kitchen and thus to to the wine cellar where the humans were being kept for all four vampire's to feed off of when they got hungry.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

As soon as Patrick and Julia got back to the room from the cellar Patrick closed the door gently and then took his mate into his arms and kissing her gently on the forehead.

"I love you," Patrick told her quite sincerely.

"I love you too," Julia assured him kissing him on the nose having to stand on her tiptoes to do so. "Would you mind helping me out of my clothes?" Julia added after a moment with a sultry wink. "I do believe that beautiful bed needs some more attention."

Patrick grinned at his mate's choice of words knowing exactly what she meant without her having to explain. What Julia meant was that they needed to be laying on the kingsized bed his parents had bought specifically for the purpose of making love—since vampires didn't sleep—by spending a great deal of time in it fucking each other senseless and messing up the sheets, which he for one would be very happy to do.

"Gladly," Patrick assured her reaching up to undo the first button on her blouse and then working his way down rapidly so that in just a few seconds he was able to pull the blouse off her shoulders and down her arms all the way until it was free to fall to the floor.

Patrick undid the button on Julia's slacks and then pulled the zipper down to where Julia just wiggled her hips and the pants slid down to the floor and all Julia had to do was step out of them. Julia hadn't bothered with panties or a bra or even shoes so now she was totally buck naked.

Julia laid on the bed and gestured at Patrick to join her and her mate willingly did so after she stripped out of his clothes in just a few seconds.

Once Patrick had joined Julia on the bed he immediately began kissing and licking all around her breasts and then taking a nipple into his mouth to suck little gently as he didn't want to hurt her.

"Oh, that feels so good," Julia panted already starting to whither underneath her mate and Patrick had hardly done anything to her yet.

"I just love how your body responds to me," Patrick said removing his mouth from her left breast in order to speak. "All I have to do is touch you just about anywhere and you respond so strongly which I suppose really isn't that surprising since I do the same whenever you touch me."

"I don't remember ever being this responsive whenever Jack and I made out," Julia said still panting a little. "We used to kiss a lot and I seem to remember and do some other things as well and I don't remember my body responding to him like it does to you."

"It probably at least partly has to do with the mate bond," Patrick suggested, "and the other part is that we both really do love each other while you just thought you loved Jack but you're mind knew differently. You were infatuated with Jack, but you didn't really love him, although your inexperience led you to believe that you really did love him and were going to marry him someday."

"Yes, but now I know the difference," Julia said as she really thought about it and compared the feelings she remembered having for Jack and then the ones she had for Patrick. "My feelings for you are about 1000 times stronger than what I ever felt for Jack." Julia said finally after she had compared the two totally different feelings. Her feelings for Jack were just infatuation she now realized and mere pale ghosts of the feelings she had for Patrick even though she had only known him for a few days while she had known Jack for her whole life even if they had only dated for three years. "I am now glad that Jack broke it off with me, although at the time I was very devastated and it didn't help that I had just learned that I had leukemia. When I compare the feelings I have for you and the ones I vaguely remember having for Jack there really isn't one. I was devastated when Jack broke it off without even an explanation, true, but partly that was just because we had been going together for three years and also because I seem to remember that my emotions were a little raw at the time since I had just learned that I had leukemia. My feelings for you though don't even compare, even though we've only known each other for a short amount of time. I know in my soul that if I lost you no matter the reason it would kill me and not just emotionally."

"I feel exactly the same," Patrick told her feeling all choked up because he loved Julia so much that he had trouble articulating his feelings for her at times and he was sure that those feelings would only continue to deepen and broaden until they loved each other just as much as his parents did, but then his parents had been together for centuries and he and Julia had barely started their relationship.

"I don't think I even really knew what love was until I met you," Julia added softly. "Not romantic love anyway. Sure we both love our families, but again that's a different kind of love."

"It certainly is as I sure wouldn't want to fuck any of my sisters as not only would that be incest, the mere thought is revolting," Patrick said with a very realistic shudder.

"Eugh! Like I really needed that image in me head!" Julia told Patrick with a very real shudder. "Thanks a lot!"

"You're welcome," Patrick said laughing at his mate's reaction if only because it mirrored his own, "but now back to what we were doing."

"Anything to get that image out my head that you put there," Julia told him her tone halfway accusing. "And you don't have to worry about me repeating this conversation to anybody as it is just to embarrassing and the last think I need is to have any of the family tease me about it for the next few centuries."

"Good, because I certainly won't be repeating it," Patrick said as he began to get back to what he had been doing just mere minutes ago causing Julia a immediately start withering underneath him again in mere seconds.

Patrick was certainly talented at what he was doing and Julia distantly wondered how he had learned it unless it had something to do with the fact that they were mates and so they just responded to each other more easily then if they hadn't been.

It didn't take very long at all for Patrick to bring both of them to their climaxes and all Julia could do was grip Patrick's brown hair, whimpering and purring as Patrick did things to her that made her orgasm begin to build quickly and it was very long at all before she went over the edge.

Julia gripped Patrick's hair even tighter and felt her orgasm explode within her and all she could do was ride out her climax to the end, which took quite awhile to subside as she was still feeling waves of pleasure for quite a few minutes afterwards. Somewhere in the back of her mind as her body was feeling wave after wave of pleasure, Julia knew that the more she and Patrick practiced, which she sincerely hoped would be a lot, the longer they'd be able to stave off their climaxes and the stronger they would become. Julia also knew that if she and Patrick weren't vampires that the strength of their climaxes would eventually kill them just because of the sheer intensity of them.

When their climaxes finally subsided both just lay there in each others arms for awhile not speaking and not really needing too.

"I don't know how you learned to be so good at what you do considering that you couldn't exactly have sex with a normal human without in all probability killing them," Julia said.

"That's exactly how I learned to be good at making love," Patrick admitted looking bashful at admitting that, but it wasn't as if Julia wouldn't suspect that he wasn't a virgin since he was quite old. "I told you when you were human that I had had previous girlfriends all vampires and also a lot of one night stands, which most of those with were human and all whores since it didn't matter if they died or not. It's not like I could've gone 160 some years without relieving my sexual tension at least a few times and yes, I could have masturbated and often did, but it just wasn't the same as fucking a vampire or a human even if that human had to die afterwards."

"Those vampire chicks aren't going to come looking for you and want to get back together are they?" asked Julia looking a little worried.

"Even if they do they'll know better than to mess with a mate bond as that is against vampire law," Patrick explained. "Bonds between mates are sacred and are not to be messed with unless you want to be torn into itsy-bitsy pieces by one of the mated couple, so you have nothing to worry about."

"Well, good, because that is precisely what would happen if one of those vampire females tried to take you from me and I wouldn't feel guilty in the slightest. I might or might not burn the pieces afterwards depending on how much they ticked me off because you are mine, and mine alone," Julia said seriously with a smirk as she leaned up just enough to kiss Patrick on the lips. "When it comes to you I definitely don't intend to share."

"Good, because I feel the exact same way about you as there is no way in hell that any vampire male better put their hands on you because he will be torn to pieces soon after if they try."

"And if a human tries to mess with me?" asked Julia with a knowing smile knowing her mate well enough to know that any human that laid a hand on her would soon end up a corpse.

"I'll drain them without feeling the slightest bit guilty for it," Patrick said, "even if they're not some kind of criminal. The only exception I'll make is if it's a teenager, but anybody over the age of 25 is fair game even though I usually prefer both men and women who are at least 35 to 75 or so."

"Sounds fair," Julia said kissing Patrick on the nose, "and the same goes for you with any female. I don't care if she is a vampire or human because if whoever it is tries to put their hands on you or pick you up, which I know is bound to happen they will get what they deserve for encroaching on somebody else's territory and you are definitely my territory."

"I am," Patrick said. "I am yours and no one else's."

"Same goes," Julia assured him the demon inside her purring in agreement, "but now enough talking as I have plans for us until we need to feed again."

"And what are these plans?" asked Patrick confidently with a knowing smirk.

"For me to fuck you six ways to Sunday," Julia told him, "and for you to do the same, of course."

"Of course," Patrick readily agreed as it was now his favorite thing to do in the whole universe.

"So let's get started," Julia murmured as she was the one to attack Patrick this time instead of the other way around and Patrick wasn't about to protest as he enjoyed his mate's aggressiveness and was happy to see that Julia was confident enough to attack him like this without bothering to ask his permission first. Besides as he had told Julia sometime ago they were absolutely equal in all things as he wasn't about to try to subjugate her, because for one thing that wasn't how he had been raised and for another he knew that that would only make Julia resent him and perhaps even hate him despite the mating bond and he wouldn't have blamed her for doing so.

Patrick groaned and purred as Julia licked, kissed and gently nipped him all over his chest and it it was quite sometime before there were any more actual words sounds as moans, groans and purrs of pleasure didn't really count.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

Three months into Julia's vampire life, Patrick had decided it was time to tell Julia about the money that he and his family had given to her and her siblings. Patrick just hoped that Julia didn't literally tear off one of his limbs as it was very possible, considering that she was still a newborn who was only three months old therefore much stronger than him and would be for the next 9 months.

"Julia, there's something I need to tell you," Patrick began trying not to show how the nervous he really was, for he knew very well that his mate had a temper that was set off relatively easily, although it also burned out quickly and Julia never held a grudge.

"What's that?" asked Julia as a the two of them sat on the bed with Patrick's back against a mountain of pillows and Julia sitting between his legs with her back and head against his chest. "And why do I have a feeling I'm not going to like it?"

"What makes you say that?" asked Patrick in surprise.

"Your tone of voice," Julia told him. "You get this certain tone in your voice when you're going to tell me something you know I'm not going to like."

"Do I?" asked Patrick with a raised eyebrow. Well maybe he did, he silently acknowledged if only to himself. He was going to have to work on that.

"You do," Julia informed him. "Now quit stalling and tell me what you know I'm not going to like.

"Well," Patrick began trying not to shift his weight on the mattress to let Julia know he was nervous or let that nervousness enter his voice. "It is a tradition that when a human is turned into a vampire that they are given enough money to get started in that new life."

"What!" Julia exclaimed for that is not what she had been expecting Patrick to tell her. "What exactly have you done?"

"Well, I opened up numbered bank accounts, in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands, as well as one at JPMorgan Chase & Co so you have money for regular expenditures in the name of Julia Whitlock and put 1 billion into each of those account. I have a credit card for you and your bank account at JPMorgan Chase & Co is to set up in such a way that it never gets below a set amount."

Julia sputtered incoherently for a moment as if trying to form words, but seemed to be unable to, although Patrick could see that she was practically vibrating with rage, from where she was now standing across the room.

Here it comes, Patrick thought resigned as he knew very well that his mate had a temper and tended to lose it easily, but on the other side of the coin she never seemed to hold a grudge either. Patrick supposed that her temper went along with her red hair as he had heard somewhere that a lot of redheads were more temperamental then somebody with black, brown, or blond hair. Of course Julia's brother Henry didn't seem to fit that particular mold and his hair was as red as his sister's, but then not all red haired people could be the same now could they, not even siblings.

"$3 billion dollars? Are you absolutely insane? That is a ridiculous amount of money. I don't need it, all I need is you and my family and I am perfectly happy with just that!" Julia raged her voice rising with every word.

"Julia, calm down," Patrick said as he stood in order to try to calm his mate down as she was now standing on the other side of the room from where she had been her red eyes flashing angrily her whole posture rigid and stiff.

"Calm down? Calm down?" Julia repeated practically frothing at the mouth.

"Yes calm down, and I'll explain why I did it," Patrick said knowing better then to approach his mate when she was this angry as he wasn't anxious to lose a limb, even if it could be reattached without to much difficulty. It was extremely painful to lose a limb for one thing and then having it put back on was only a little less so, at least according to his father and Patrick wasn't a looking forward to finding out if that was true or not.

"Why would you do such a thing behind my back, without discussing it with me first?" shouted Julia yelling so loudly that Patrick was sure whoever was home could hear her all over the house with their vampire hearing.

"Because, it is the thing to do when you turn a human into a new vampire and it is almost a rule or at least a tradition," Patrick explained calmly not raising his voice at all. "It's true that we don't need to eat, but we do need clothes, things to entertain us, traveling money, that kind of thing. Every single one of us that was either born into or joined the family through more traditional means has had the same thing done for them so you as well as your siblings are not unique. Scott had the same thing done for him when he became a vampire, because he is Bryon's mate. It is always up to the vampire that changes a human to take care of that little detail and since that was me in this case it was my responsibility."

"But I didn't join this family just because of all the money you could give me," Julia protested. "I agreed to be turned because I didn't want to die of leukemia at the age of 22, at least until I met you and then it became quite urgent that I be changed so we would always be together."

"Yes, and I will always be grateful that you did agreed to be changed, although I would have been forced to change you if you hadn't," Patrick admitted after a moment. "A vampire cannot live without their mate once that mate has been discovered."

"I'm aware that and quit changing the subject," Julia told him angrily, although Patrick could tell that she wasn't quite as furious as she had been just a few minutes ago.

Patrick knew that Julia's emotions were rather strong and unsettled and would be at least until her newborn year was over. Perhaps he should have waited to tell her this until after that, but on the other hand he hadn't wanted her mad at him for withholding information, so he'd had a rather tough decision to make and at the time he had thought it was better to go ahead and get it off his chest, but perhaps he had been wrong.

"Julia, you will be alive for centuries and I guarantee you that $3 billion barely scratches the surface of the money that me and my family have accumulated over the amount of time we have been around. You need money to do you own thing, as I will not always be with you."

"What do you mean?" asked Julia looking worried after she had absorbed Patrick's words.

Patrick cursed himself in his head as he had meant that the way it sounded. "I just meant that sometimes you will want a few hours away from me to do your own thing as even mated couples need some time alone occasionally," Patrick explained. "You might want to go shopping with some of the other females in the family for example."

Julia immediately calmed down as Patrick hadn't meant what she thought he had.

"But $3 billion is too much," Julia protested again although Patrick could tell that she was weakening and that her anger was dissipating at all his logical arguments.

Patrick rolled his eyes at that and said as calmly as possible trying not to let exasperation show, although he knew where Julia was coming from, but still. "Julia things are much more expensive in this century then when I was born, and not just a little bit more, but a lot. Trust me $3 billion is not too much and in fact I intend to teach you how to invest so that you always have plenty. You have to remember that you are now immortal and you will no longer die after a normal mortal lifespan. 1000 years from now you will still be here and so will I, so if you think $3 billion is enough to support you for all that time when prices keep rising think again."

"I never thought of it like that," Julia admitted calming down completely.

"I know the concept of immortality takes awhile to get used to and even though you know that you are no longer mortal in your head and that you will not die after 80 or 90 years, it does take your heart awhile to catch up," Patrick said not mentioning the fact that he was not be only one that had deposited $3 billion into her account as every member of the family except the four newest had done the same, so Julia was now a very rich young woman and so were her other three siblings.

"I'm sorry I lost my temper," Julia apologized walking towards him and once she reached him went into his arms willingly giving him a kiss on the lips.

"It's alright, I can take it," Patrick told her after they had broken the kiss.

"You shouldn't have to put up with my temper," Julia told him looking contrite that she had yelled at the person she loved most in the world.

"Why not? It's part of who you are and one of the things I love most about you. Besides it's not like everybody on the face of the Earth doesn't also have a temper and sometimes other people lose theirs, so why shouldn't you be able to lose yours if something upsets you?" Patrick told her. "We are not perfect, by any stretch or measure, and I certainly don't expect you to be as that would be like loving a robot with no emotions or passion at all."

"You know, I believe that is the most romantic, sweetest thing a guy has ever said to me," Julia said as she leaned up enough to kiss Patrick on the lips again. "I'm sorry I made such a big deal about the money."

"It's all right," Patrick assured her. "Part of the reason is that as a newborn your emotions are a little volatile right now. It will take your emotions awhile to settle down because as I'm sure you've noticed a vampire's emotions are at least five or six times as strong as they were when you were human."

"Yes, I've noticed," Julia said. "Even as a human I sometimes had trouble controlling my temper if something set me off and now that my emotions are so much stronger it is going to be even harder. Sometimes I feel as if I'm going to literally explode if I don't relieve my pent-up anger."

"Your emotions will settle down in a year or two, possibly three," Patrick told her, "and be what is considered normal for our kind."

Julia moaned at Patrick's words. "How are you going to put up with me when I lose my temper over really silly things."

"Julia," Patrick said as he kissed the top of her head. "It's not a matter of putting up with as you put it. I love you and your temper as that is just part of who you are. I love all of you, your heart, your soul, your body, your personality, your temper, every single part of you I love, not just the wrapping and even though you don't remember I said almost the same think to you when you were human and you were wondering what I saw in you."

Julia stared at Patrick from where she was laying in the circle of his arms on the bed as if he had grown another head. "Love, must truly be blind," Julia muttered.  
"No, you just don't see yourself as you truly are and have this wrapped image of yourself that is so out of touch with reality that it is in no way realistic."

Julia laughed at that.

"I believe part of the reason that you see yourself as you do is because of the influence of your parents when you were growing up. No matter how bad or good parents are they still have great influence in the life of their children and how they see themselves. If you'd had normal, stable, loving parents then you would realize that I love you more than for your outer appearance. I love every single part of what makes you, you," Patrick told Julia quite sincerely. "Besides I have a temper myself you know, although I don't lose it very often. I am my father's son after all and although dad doesn't lose his temper often it has been known to happen depending on the situation."

"I love you," Julia told Patrick all choked up at his words. She now realized that Patrick would love her unconditionally no matter how many times she lost her temper and yelled at him.

"And I love you and I always will no matter how many times we argue with each other."

Julia snorted it that and said, "You mean how I yelled at you and you answered me back without losing your temper once."

"Yes," Patrick admitted, "but on the other hand I'm not a newborn and you are."

"When you and your brothers were growing up did any of you ever lose your temper?" asked Julia.

"Oh, yes," Patrick said recalling one incident in particular. "All of us grew fast and not only brain wise, but in our bodies as well which meant our emotions grew stronger much faster than normal too and that was bound to cause friction occasionally. Normally when a human is turned into a vampire their emotions go from being very weak—as their bodies just aren't made to handle such strong emotions—to being at least five or six times stronger as I said before, but since me and my brothers were born vampires we had much those stronger vampire emotions upon conception and since we grew so fast...well I'm sure you get the point."

"I do," Julia said trying to imagine what would've happened if one of Jasper's and Bella's children had lost their tempers with vampire emotion being so much stronger than human ones.

"Why don't you tell me about some of those times."

"Alright," Patrick agreed willing to do anything to cheer Julia up, although those incidents had been very embarrassing at the time. "Well, there was this one time…"

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

One year later all four of the former of Blackwoods, now Whitlocks were called into the more formal living room which wasn't used as often as the den.

It had been decided by Jasper and Bella as well as Patrick that it was time to present the Blackwoods with the Whitlock crest since all of them had finally gotten hold of their strength and wouldn't destroy it on accident.

"You wanted to see us, Jasper? Bella?" asked Henry looking between the two older Whitlocks.

"Yes we did," Jasper said.

"Why don't you sit down," Bella told them gently and the four Blackwoods did what was asked. The members of the family that were actually living in the house in Houston with their parents at that time were gathered for this ceremony. The Blackwoods looked nervous as they sat on various pieces of furniture—all except Julia that is who sat snuggled on Patrick's lap with his arms around her—since they had no idea what was going on.

"Now we called you all down here," Jasper began, "to present all four of you with the Whitlock crest."

"The Whitlock crest?" asked Alicia wondering what that was. Oh she know what a crest was as some really old family lines had them, but she had no idea that the Whitlocks had such a thing, although come to think of it she had seen the various male of the group wearing a ring with some kind of crest in silver or platinum, with some kind of red stone around the edges that could very well be rubies. Alisa hoped not as she knew rubies like diamonds were a very expensive stone and that meant that the rings were probably worth at least several thousand dollars apiece and that's only if the red stones were real rubies and not the fake kind.

"Yes, all of you are officially part of our family," Bella explained getting to her feet handing out four different boxes from Tiffany. "Every member of that family wears the Whitlock crest."

"Why?" asked Jason as he opened his jewelry box to find a platinum ring that had what he assumed was the Whitlock crest.

"Well, for one thing the crest will protect you from other vampires to a certain extent, anyway, although it won't protect you from all of them," Bella explained.

"I am well-known as one hell of a fighter amongst vampires thanks to the Southern Wars," Jasper explained who had at this point told all the four newborn his story, "and so my crest should protect you to a certain extent, as Bella explained just a minute ago."

"You see, eventually once you get control of your bloodlust that is you are going to be out traveling the world and doing your own thing," Bella explained. "We won't always be together and in fact rarely get together all at the same time anymore except at Christmas."

"You all are of course, welcome to keep in contact with us. If you need advice for example or you get into trouble then you can contact us and we'll come and help," Jasper explained.

"And also we expect you to show up for the Christmas holiday," Bella added looking at all four newborns sternly. "It is the only time that my whole family is all together and you are a part of that family so if you aren't there you had better have a very good reason why not."

Bella's children that were present laughed at that, because on more then one occasion one of them had been lectured for not coming for the Christmas Holiday.

"So what do these words mean?" asked Julia as she looked at the necklace in platinum that she was examining very closely. 'Whitlocks pugna tantum ut necesse,' Julia read silently. Julia assumed the words were in Latin, although she didn't know that for sure.

"Yes they're Latin, just as I'm sure you suspected and they mean 'Whitlocks fight only when necessary,' Jasper explained. "What that means is that while I have nothing against protecting what is mine or anybody who is a part of my family, I still prefer peace as I have seen more than enough fighting to last me for the rest of my existence when I was part of the Southern Wars."

"And I'm assuming that the design is very specific and that each thing you picked out to go on here means something?" asked Henry as he examined the platinum ring he now held very carefully in his hand.

"In that you would be right," Jasper told him as he began to explain what each item on his crest meant. "The two pairs of crossed swords in opposite diagonal quadrants mean different things. The pair that is upright mean that I am willing to fight but the pair downwards mean I'd rather find a peaceful solution rather then fight. The tiger in the lower quadrant means, willpower, strength and courage, while the bear, is physical strength, confidence the power to stand against adversity, taking action and leadership," Jasper explained. "The gems all along the edge of the crest are rubies, in order to represent, the blood that sustains us and also the red of our eyes. The more traditional and human meaning though is, vitality, friendship, love, contentment and peace. It is even said that placed under a pillow a ruby will ward off bad dreams."

"I sure could have used something like that when I was human," Julia commented remembering more than one nightmare mostly due to her bad break up with Jack and also her leukemia. Julia had absolutely no idea that she was repeating her older brother's words from a few years ago, while he had still been human as Scott had had plenty of nightmares to although for a different reason then Julia.

"I had no idea that an animal could mean anything at all," Jason said thoughtfully. "Or that gems could mean anything either."

"Most people don't," Bella told Jason with a smile. "If you know anything about the Native Americans they assigned meaning to different animals long before the rest of the human race."

"Thank you for this," Henry said as he took the platinum ring out of the box and slipped it onto his finger.

"Yes, we are very grateful," Alisa said as she took her necklace out-of-the-box and had Henry help her put it on.

"You're more than welcome," Jasper told them with a smile. "You already were a part of my family, but this just makes it official."

"No, I mean it, you and your family have done so much for us when you didn't have to…" Alisa began.

"Yes, we did have to," Bella said before Scott could protest. "Once Scott discovered that Julia was so sick there was no way that he could've left her to die, and since he was already a part of our family it was only natural that we do the same for all of you."

"What I mean," Alisa said, "is that this family has more compassion then all the humans I knew before I was a vampire."

"We have compassion when we can afford to have compassion," Patrick told Alisa speaking for the first time since he had sat down with Julia on his lap. "Isn't that what you have told us on numerous occasions, dad?"

"Yes it is," Jasper agreed winking at his son who had been much happier ever since he had found Julia. "What my son means is that we have compassion when there is no danger to our family, but when it comes to destroying a vampire or a human for that matter who is a danger to us like we did to those nomads all those years ago then we will do it and compassion doesn't enter into it. If some vampire or human proves to be a threat to us, although it is more likely to be a vampire, then I will destroy them without a second thought before they can really become a danger to my family."

"Personally I think that's sensible," Henry said while the other three shuddered.

"It may be sensible as you put it Henry, but I really don't like it, never have. On the other hand I have learned that vampires can hold grudges for eternity," Bella explained. "In other words even if we let one go they would be back and in the meantime they would be scheming to get their revenge if they thought we had insulted them in some way, even if it was only a matter of perception, so it is just better to go ahead and deal with the situation before it gets to that point and causes a whole lot of trouble. It is just part of the vampire life, and just because you don't like doing something doesn't mean you don't have to do it and I'll tell you right now I am more than willing to do a lot of things I don't like in order to protect my family because if lost any of them it would almost literally destroy me. I'm not normally a violent person by nature, despite the fact that I am a vampire and I hunt down my own meals and drain their blood, but then again Jasper and I only hunt criminals and I have always felt that they deserved what they get."

"I can certainly understand that," Alisa said as she surveyed the room and looked at all the children that were staying at the old house in Houston and knew that not even half of them were here. There was Bryon, with her brother Scott by his side of course, Meredith with her amber eyes because she drank animal blood, Gavin also with amber colored eyes, Trevor, Troy, Xander, Callisto, Patrick and of course her sister Julia. The rest of Jasper's and Bella's children were out traveling the world and were not here at present, although she and her other siblings had met them at one time or another in the last year.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

It was four years later and Patrick was nervous, although he tried not to show it around Julia.

You might ask why had he was nervous and the simple reason was that he was going to ask Julia to marry him. As yet he had not been shopping for engagement ring simply because there would've been no way for him to get away without Julia finding out and he wanted to surprise her so he had come up with the idea of using his Whitlock crest ring in order to propose and then he was going to take Julia to a high-end jewelry shop as there was several along the Champs-Élysées and help her pick out an engagement ring that she liked. Why he was nervous he didn't really know as it wasn't as if Julia was going to say no since they were already married in the vampire way by having bitten each other to complete their mating bond, but he was.

At the moment the two of them were in Paris as Patrick had wanted to propose to Julia in one of the most romantic cities in the world as even in the 22nd century Paris was still considered the city of love.

It had only been in the last year or so that Julia and Patrick had started traveling together as Julia was still learning how to control her bloodlust and had struggled quite a bit with it and so Jasper had felt that she wasn't ready to get out on own or even with Patrick not that Julia had minded that as she loved the house in Houston and wasn't ready to leave it anyway.

"So what are our plans now that we are in Paris?" asked Julia as she came out of the bathroom having been fixing her hair and putting on her makeup, although Patrick felt that she didn't really need any makeup as she was at simply gorgeous even without it and the makeup didn't change that.

"I thought we could go do some dancing in a nightclub," Patrick said, "and then after that go to the Eiffel Tower and since we don't have to be back be dawn maybe take a walk down the Champs-Élysées, maybe do a little shopping." Patrick knew that there were some very good jewelry stores on that particular street and so that's where they were going, Helzberg Diamonds in particular.

"Sounds very romantic," Julia said enthusiastically.

"That was the whole point," Patrick said with a grin, "this is Paris, after all the most romantic city in the world."

"You had better stop looking at me like that if you want to get out of this house," Julia told Patrick with a grin of her own, although she was being perfectly serious as her mate's expression was making her want to stay in and make love for the next few days instead and as enjoyable as that would be they also needed to see outside the small house they had rented.

"Like what?" asked Patrick genuinely curious.

"Like I am the most precious thing in the world to you," Julia told him quite seriously.

"How can I stop looking at you like that when you are the most precious thing in the world to me?" asked Patrick his ton so matter-of-fact that it took a few seconds for Julia to absorb the words. "You know how lonely I was before I found you. Sure I had my family, but it's not the same thing as having a mate, a life partner, someone you love so deeply that it would kill you literally to lose them and you know it. You have made my life complete and happier than it has ever been before and we don't even really have to do anything all that extraordinary as just being with you every day is a pleasure."

Julia lowered her head putting it on her mate's shoulder and Patrick put his arms and hugged her close to him and kissed her quite seriously. Patrick was always saying stuff like that and Julia was always happy to hear it, but that didn't mean that his words didn't embarrass her as she wasn't used to receiving compliments as her parents hadn't really been big on complimenting anyone, not even their own children and even if they had been they probably wouldn't have truly meant any of them, but she knew that Patrick did, which wa what made her so embarrassed to hear them.

"I love you," Julia told him as soon as they had broken off the kiss.

"And I love you too," Patrick told her kissing her on the nose causing her to giggle.

"Let's get going, I'm looking forward to dancing with you in my arms all night," Julia told Patrick as she hurried and finished getting dressed.

"So am I, as I love holding you close," Patrick agreed trying to contain his excitement since he planned to propose to her right in front of the Eiffel Tower that very night.

"So what's the name of this place we're going to?" asked Julia.

"La Java," Patrick told her.

"That means… popular dance?" asked Julia hesitantly who had been learning French from Patrick for the last year. Of course those lessons had kind of been intermittent, in-between their other activities, which is why she didn't speak it as fluently as she liked yet, although she was getting better.

"That's exactly right," Patrick told her kissing her on the nose again.

"You really need to start teaching me French seriously so I don't feel out of place," Julia told her mate. "I know we had lessons on and off over the last year, but I really want to learn it so I speak it fluently."

"Just being in the country and hearing the French people speak should help tremendously," Patrick told her putting an arm around her shoulders. "It will not only help you perfect your accent it will enlarge your vocabulary of French words as well, not to mention with your eidetic memory you can repeat exactly what that person and said and how they said it and I can tell you what the words mean if you do not know. You also need to take time to listen to the French language discs and once you do that your vocabulary will much improve."

"How am I going to find a time when we're always so busy?" Julia asked with a arched eyebrow. "The way we fuck each other so much I'm surprised we have time to do anything else."

Patrick didn't look the least contrite at his mate's words, and in fact he had the gall to look smug. "You enjoyed those sessions as much as I did and you know it," Patrick told her his tone so certain that Julia had to force herself not to laugh. "Besides I seem to remember that you gave me blanket permission to do whatever I wanted to you and I did the same. Also you jump me just as much and you don't hear me protesting."

Julia laughed long and loud and Patrick knew that he had been right that she had just been teasing him and had been unable to contain herself anymore. "You're right, I wouldn't trade any of those sessions for anything else in the world," Julia told him as soon as she had managed to quit laughing.

"Boy, I showed it tickle your funny bone didn't I?" Patrick teased.

"You could say that," Julia said deadpan.

Patrick chuckled and pulled Julia into his arms for a long hug and kiss.

"We had better get going before we don't leave the house at all," Julia said and Patrick nodded in agreement as all he really wanted to do was stay here fuck his mate for the next month or two, but then again he always wanted to do that so that was nothing new. Besides they did have somewhere else to be tonight and he didn't just mean the dance club, but that he was going to propose at the base of the Eiffel Tower just as the sun was rising in the east using his Whitlock crest as an engagement ring until Julia and he could go to one of the high-end jewelry stores that were part of the famous Champs-Élysées.

The two of them left the house hand-in-hand and walked to the car they had rented for the duration of their stay making sure to lock the door of the house behind them.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

Patrick and Julia were immediately ushered to the head of the line that was standing outside the door of the La Java, and several humans shot the pair envious looks as they were waiting to get inside. Of course the fact that Patrick very circumspectly passed the bouncer at the door 100 in euros might have had something to do with it.

Julia who had seen the action shook her head and didn't comment, although she couldn't really blame Patrick for not wanting to stand in line when they could be inside dancing and it was only 100 euros after all, which was a mere drop in old proverbial bucket in the amount of cash that the Whitlocks had at their fingertips. Actually she didn't really mind as she didn't want to stand in line either even though the smell of human blood no longer bothered her as much as it once had so long as she was well fed. Now if she was hungry it was a different story entirely.

"May I have this dance, my lady?" asked Patrick with a bow as soon as they had reached the dance floor and Julia nodded stepping willingly into the protective circle of his arms as the two started to sway to the music together. Sometime later the pair of them were interrupted as someone tapped Patrick on the shoulder.

"May I cut in?" came a female voice several songs later and Julia shot the woman—who was dressed like a slut in a very low cut blouse that just barely covered her overblown boobs and a skirt so short that it didn't really conceal very much, especially if the woman was to lean over—that was so full of hatred that the lady actually took a step back. In fact Julia barely stopped herself from growling at the whore's assumption that she could just stick her overblown boobs into her and Patrick's face when her mate hadn't even looked in her direction or anybody else's for that matter. You would think that the woman, even as drunk as she was would be able to tell that Patrick and her were very much in love and that he was off the market. They had come in together for god's sake and it wasn't like she was just someone that Patrick had picked to have somebody to dance with. Not to mention that woman must not have the brains that god gave an insect if she couldn't sense how dangerous they were, since they were vampires. Of course, the dark haired slut was extremely drunk so maybe that had something to do with it. She would have to remember to ask Patrick about that.

"No you may not cut in, considering he's my husband. Why don't you go bother somebody who is not taken?" Julia suggested just loud enough for the dark haired woman to hear.

Why, oh why, did this woman have bother them so much, especially since this wasn't exactly one of those clubs that encouraged that kind of thing. This wasn't a club that was in the red light district where stuff like whoring yourself out was considered acceptable as it was the La Java was in a respectable neighborhood and was very popular with the business type of people or the people who had jobs in the area.

"Pff, I don't see a wedding ring," the woman said looking annoyed.

"We are married though," Patrick told the woman calmly but with a hint of steel underneath his tone. "I suggest that you go have another drink at the bar and then go home and sleep off your drunken state, because if you bother us again I will go to the manager and have your ass thrown out." And then track you across the whole city if I must and feed off your ugly carcass, Patrick added in his thoughts. Tracking the woman across the city wouldn't be all that difficult as she smelled quite strongly of a perfume that was very distinctive and Patrick or Julia for that matter would have no trouble tracking that scent across the city.

Normally Patrick was a lot like his father in the fact that he didn't like to be rude to anybody, but this woman, whatever her name was, had upset his mate and that was unacceptable to him.

Some of his siblings didn't mind offending someone if they were annoyed or angry, but Patrick had always tried to be as polite possible no matter how rude or annoying that person was, because he had found over the years that if you were polite while the other person was rude that it was more likely to get the other person in trouble with the management instead of yourself.

Actually Patrick was surprised that the bouncer at the door had even let the woman in, the way she was dressed, since this was a respectable club.

"Why would you want be married to her when I'm much more beautiful. Men as handsome as you dump plain Janes like her every day," the woman said so drunk that she was unaware of the danger. If the woman was being truthful, with herself at least, the redhead woman that was dancing with the handsome man, that she wanted above all else, was one of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, not including herself, of course, but then so was the man with his brown hair, slightly long, his face which was to die for as he looked like a god and the muscles she could see underneath his short sleeve shirt didn't hurt either. The way that the red haired woman put her head on what the tart considered her property simply made her blood boil, even though the godlike man hadn't even glanced her way as his eyes, which she thought were hazel, although it was hard to tell in the dim light, had been focused solely on the red haired woman in front of him. That the man wasn't paying attention to her made her want to claw the red haired woman's eyes out as no man was allowed to ignore her, especially if she wanted him. Married or not eventually she would get what she wanted, she always did. What she didn't know however, is that soon she would be very dead as she had definitely set her sights on someone that was not only unattainable, but was very dangerous to boot.

Julia growled now and Patrick glared the woman and said, "That's it I'm going to go get the manager and have your ass thrown out, since you apparently can't take the hint."

The woman knew she had gone to far then as she had in her drunken state tried to go after someone who obviously wasn't affected by her feminine wiles or by her as a woman at all. Apparently the handsome man, who she didn't even know the name of, really did love the no good, scum sucking cunt he had been dancing with and if they were really married then she really was in the proverbial soup as going after a married man, while not actually illegal—since it was impossible to create that kind of law—in a place like this, was subtly discouraged. The La Java was in a very upscale part of town and was nowhere near the red light district where going after a married man didn't really matter and wouldn't have drawn any attention.

"You, are coming with me, as I can't have you sneaking out the back door before we deal with this, now can I?" Patrick asked rhetorically grabbing the dark haired woman on the arm none to gently and almost dragged her towards the bar so that the barman could get the manager for him.

"Can't you just let this go?" asked the woman pleadingly, although it went against her pride to beg, but in this case she was willing to make an exception. "I won't bother you again—I swear."

The drunk woman immediately noticed that the man had a grip of iron and no matter how much she struggled she wasn't going to get away. Man, he must really work out to be so strong, the woman thought even as she continued to try to shake herself loose. She had really done it to herself this time for she knew that the management barely tolerated her presence thanks to the way she dressed and behaved. Everybody was welcomed at this club just so long as they caused no trouble and she had been warned more then once when a man or woman had reported her to the manager, for trying to pick them up, although it was always a man—whether or not he was was with anyone—she went after as she was completely straight. It didn't matter if the man was married or not or at least had a significant other. None of the women who had been with her target had appreciated her trying to steal their man and had reported her for it.

"No, I will not let it go," Patrick told the woman with no hint of sympathy in his tone. "You upset my wife and that is unacceptable. Julia told you to leave us alone that I wasn't interested and if you had left us alone then, we wouldn't be heading the bar so that the barman can get the manager now. If I have a say in the matter you will soon learn that you cannot always have what you want. Now I want you to march as I don't want to have to drag you all the way there, although I could. Don't try anything though, because as I'm sure you know by now I'm much stronger than I look," Patrick told the unnamed woman his tone resolute.

"That's the understatement of the century," the woman muttered under her breath not expecting for the two to be able to hear her, with all the noise of the music and the people chattering to each other.

Patrick released the slut's wrist, but didn't take his eyes off her for a second and pointed towards the bar. "March, we'll be right behind you."

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

"Well that was trouble we didn't need," Julia said having calmed down considerably since that woman had been dealt with. The two of them walked slowly towards their car hand-in-hand. It was only a half an hour until sunrise and Patrick knew that they only had a few minutes to get the Eiffel Tower, so he could propose.

"Yes, it was," Patrick agreed, "but you are going to have to get used to it happening, occasionally as there is something about us that attracts people like that. I suppose we do both look like a god and goddess and a lot of humans find that nearly irresistible, not that that's any excuse."

"At least we got her thrown out of the club for good," Julia said with malicious satisfaction.

"Feeling vengeful are we?" Patrick teased his mate although he also knew exactly how she felt as he was feeling like that himself and unlike Julia he wasn't a new vampire so he couldn't even blame his emotions, which were very strong.

"Yes, yes, I am," Julia said still looking a little angry and upset, which Patrick could hardly blame her for as he was still a little upset himself. "I wanted to make a meal off that woman so bad I could almost taste her blood in my mouth. How I restrained myself I still don't know."

"I'm glad you did, since we would want all those humans to find out about us, on the other hand I know exactly how you feel and you being only a little bit over four years old doesn't help."

"You were upset as well because you were rude to that cunt and you are almost never rude you know," Julia pointed out.

"I can be rude when I have to be," Patrick told her with a wink and a half smile. "Just because I'm usually polite doesn't mean that when something ticks me off I can't be very rude. Not only did she upset you, which to me is unacceptable and unforgivable, she also upset me by the way she shoved her overblown boobs in my face since I never even looked in her direction or gave her the slightest bit of encouragement. It should have been obvious even to an idiot that as closely as we were dancing together that we were very much in love and didn't want to be disturbed. Of course I know that the alcohol in her system is partly too blame as she smelled like a whole distillery and her alcohol levels must be off the charts, not that's any excuse."

"Did you hear what the manager said about the fact that the only reason he let her hang around for so long was because she was the daughter of an old friend of his?"

"Yes I did," Patrick said with a smirk. "The man was quite upset. His heart was beating much faster than is normal and that he was willing to give us almost anything we wanted is a sure sign that he was very agitated."

"Not to mention the way he glared at Agnes like he wanted to strangle her," Julia said the name with the upmost contempt. "We are never going to name any of our children, Agnes," Julia added after a moment, making a face.

"I agree," Patrick said with a nod of agreement. "They're are a lot of pretty names in the world, but that one has never been one of my favorites."

"You mean it's one of the ugliest names you've ever heard," Julia told him her tone quite rude. "I know that's what you mean even if you're too polite to say so."

"Man Agnes really did get your dander up, didn't she?" Patrick said with a genuine grin.

"She really did. The first time I can leave the house without supervision, because I was having such trouble controlling my bloodlust and we decide to come to Paris—our first trip without anyone but the two of us—and that...that...hussy, has to ruin it."

"She's only going to if you let her," Patrick told her trying to calm Julia down, although he could hardly blame her for her feelings as his mate did have a very good point. It was their very first trip alone together and that cunt, hussy, whore, bitch, had interfered with them enjoying themselves. Patrick knew that part of the reason at least was because they were very attractive as vampires, although normally they had to turn on the charm to have that effect, as most humans avoided them like the plague without knowing why, but this woman had been very, very, drunk, which was at least partly the reason why she hadn't avoided them like other humans ended to do. "The way to get back at her, even if she'll never know it, is to continue to have a good time and just forget about her completely."

"I'll try," Julia promised. "We do have more important, not to mention more pleasant, things to think about."

"Yes we do," Patrick agreed with a grin.

"Where are we going?" Julia asked as she looked out the window only knowing that they weren't heading back to the hotel.

"You'll see," Patrick promised. "It's a surprise."

"Paddy," Julia whined plaintively as she hated not knowing what was going on.

"Be patient, love, we'll be there in just a few minutes," Patrick said refusing to say anymore and Julia knew that she'd never get anything out of him until he was ready to divulge his surprise.

"You spoil me," Julia told him with a slight smile.

"You deserve to be spoiled," Patrick told her, quite seriously.

They both fell silent and then a few minutes later Patrick pulled into a parking space in front of the Eiffel Tower just as the sun began to rise in the east.

"Why are we here?" asked Julia. "They don't open until 9 am to the public."

"Well I thought now was a good time to see it since it doesn't open until nine as you said as I'm not sure you're ready to handle all the people that will be here later."

"I did handle the packed nightclub," Julia pointed out.

"That's true, but it wasn't as packed is this place will be, in a few hours," Patrick said. "The Eiffel Tower gets thousands of visitors a day as it is one of the most famous sights in the world. We can come back in a few years when you've been a vampire little longer and when your bloodlust is no longer a problem."

"I would love to see the Eiffel Tower all lit at up at night. I've heard it's a spectacular sight."

"We can do that sometime to as I wouldn't mind seeing that myself," Patrick said.

"You've never seen the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night?" asked Julia in astonishment.

"No," Patrick said. "I haven't been here at all actually, even though I speak French, but then so does every one of my siblings. It just seemed wrong to come to the most romantic city in the world without somebody to share it with and no I'm not talking about my family as much as I love them. I've been to Italy, although I stayed away from Volterra where our rulers make their home, Spain, Holland, and a lot of places in the States, but there's still a whole lot of the world left to explore."

"You've only been to those few places and you've been alive how long?" asked Julia knowing exactly how old Patrick was.  
"I never told any of my family this, but I have a little house out in the countryside of Alabama, Patrick said. "I go there when I want time by myself, although now things are very different that I have you. Maybe we can go there together just to get some time alone when we don't want company. Sometimes I spend up to five years there at a time with occasional trips to see my parents, like for Christmas."

"That sounds good," Julia agreed, somehow no surprised at Patrick's explanation at all. "Time alone with you sounds wonderful when nobody will worry when we don't show our faces for awhile. I'm assuming it's close enough to Alabama that we'll have no trouble getting fed?"

"About an hour's driving time, but only if we go the speed limit," Patrick said. "I prefer running on my own two feet as it is much faster, though and once it get's dark it is unlikely anyone will spot me or even if they do, since I'm there and gone in the blink of an eye, humans just figure that they were seeing things, which is very easy to in the dark even with a full moon. Humans have very poor eyesight compared to us."

"Yes, I know," Julia agreed. "We'll have to do that sometime as I like the thought of quiet time with just the two of us and none of your siblings or mine to bother us when we want to be alone. The Eiffel Tower's beautiful isn't it?"

"Yes," Patrick said not even looking at the Tower, but at his gorgeous mate who he thought was the most beautiful woman in the world. Of course, Patrick was well aware that his father felt the same way about his mother and that Trey felt the same for Lindsey and Gerik for Brianna or even Bryon for Scott, although the appropriate term there would be handsome instead of beautiful, but still the emotions were the same. Part of it was the mate bond, but only a very small part as the bond was only a way to identify that you had found your perfect match and therefore you didn't need to look elsewhere, not that you could once you had found that person human or vampire that you were supposed to spend the rest of eternity with. The bond drew you closer together true, but you still had to learn each others foibles, in other words each others personalities, their likes, dislikes, things they felt passionate about or things they hated and that took years, sometimes decades to really get to know a person inside and out.

Julia had been looking at the Tower looked back at Patrick as the tone in his voice alerted her that something was up. Patrick was holding out the Whitlock crest in the palm of his hand and was down on one knee. "Julia, it would give me the greatest pleasure if you would agree to marry me in the human fashion."

"Patrick..." Julia began pausing caught so totally by surprise that it took few moments for her to get her surge of excitement under control, but once she did she said softly, "Yes, I would like to get married in the human fashion, even though I know that being mated is the same thing, in the vampire world anyway."

"You will?" asked Patrick standing back on his feet a smile slowly spreading across his face until he was beaming.

"Did you really think I would say no?" Julia teased him as she came over where he was standing hugging him close to her. "I love you, more than I can ever tell you."

"You tell me every day how you feel about me just by your actions," Patrick told her, "and I don't need to feel your emotions like my father or Bryon to know that you love me unreservedly."

"So why your crest ring?" asked Julia as she studied it. The ring of course was way too big to fit her finger, but she was sure that it was just a gesture on Patrick's part and that they'd to go shopping for one sometime soon.

"Well, since we're always together there was no way I could get away in order to pick out an engagement ring for you, not without you being suspicious anyway," Patrick explained. "I wanted to pick it out myself and not depend on my mother or another member of the family. I figured that my crest ring would do for the proposal and that we could go shopping so that you could pick out your own engagement ring."

"That was a good plan," Julia told him with a heartfelt kiss, "and Patrick, I could never say no to you as I love you way too much."

"And I love you," Patrick told her sincerely returning the kiss.

"So where we going next? Most places won't open for hours yet as it is barely dawn," asked Julia.

"Well, I thought we could drive around, maybe get to know the city," Patrick said, "then about 9 o'clock we could take a walk down the Champs-Élysées."

"Oh, that's so romantic," Julia said. "The Champs-Élysées is almost as famous as the Eiffel Tower, itself. Why at 9 o'clock though?"

"Because that's when the jewelry store I'm thinking about opens," Patrick explained. "It's called Helzberg Diamonds and if you don't find something you like there then there are several jewelry stores in that area that we can go and look at including a Tiffany's and a Cartier's."

"Oh, how you spoil me," Julia told him kissing him quite seriously again and it was some time later that they both broke part. "We had better get out of here before somebody comes along wondering why we're here at this early hour," Julia added finally. "We don't want anybody to think that we're here to sabotage the Eiffel Tower. Actually I'm kind of surprised that security hasn't discovered us by now."

"Yes, some people can be very nosy and butt themselves into things where they don't belong," Patrick agreed taking Julia's hand in his and leading her towards their rented vehicle, which was parked several blocks away.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

"See anything you like?" asked Patrick as the two of them perused the aisles of Helzberg Diamonds. "Don't worry about the price, it isn't like we don't have money to spare."

"Oh, I wasn't," Julia told him as she had gotten over the fact fairly quickly that the Whitlocks had a ton of money and so it didn't matter how much she spent, she and Patrick would never have to worry about running out. "I'm definitely not like my adoptive mother in that respect as I like gorgeous things, always have, although I very much doubt I ever would have been able to afford stuff like this at these prices if I had remained human and healthy."

Patrick nodded for that was true, his mother always objected when his father bought her gorgeous, but expensive things and it didn't matter if it was a nice piece of jewelry or something else.

The funny thing was that her protests seemed almost a matter of rote, as if she was just protesting for form's sake. Patrick didn't know for sure of course, but he was at least 95% positive that his mother only protested because his father showered her with so many expensive gifts and she didn't feel as if she deserved them. His father could be stubborn though, Patrick knew that for a fact since he was also very stubborn and always ended up with what he wanted in the end and his father was the exact same way.

"I'm pretty sure she just protests for form's sake," Patrick told his mate.

Julia thought about that then nodded as Bella's protesting did seem rather lackluster and weak.

"So I repeat do you see anything you like," Patrick said again as Julia looked over the choices.

"Yes I see several things, I like," Julia told him.

"Let me go get the salesman, who has been cowering behind his counter ever since we entered the store," Patrick said with a laugh in his voice as he knew very well that this man seemed to be able to sense more of what they were then most people as if his senses were keener than an ordinary humans for otherwise why would he be cowering? Most people were cautions around them and seemed to avoid them without knowing why, but this guy was genuinely afraid of them and not just merely cautious.

Julia giggled about it as she had also noticed how the salesman had reacted to them as soon as they had entered the store. "He acts as if we want to come over there and attack him, or something."

"He does, doesn't he?" asked Patrick with a soft laugh as he looked at the salesman again not at all offended by the man's reaction as he knew very well it was only natural. "Why don't you finish looking and deciding on what you want so that we can get out of here and leave the poor man alone."

"I take it you're not gonna make a meal of the man then?" Julia teased him quietly enough that Patrick would be the only one able to hear her. Julia well knew that Patrick would do no such thing unless the salesman turned out to be some kind of secret criminal of something.

"No," Patrick said shaking his head with a twinkle in his eyes, that showed through the plastic of the colored contacts. "He's not a criminal and he hasn't done anything to offend me or you like that woman Agnes the other night."

Julia growled softly at that if she remembered that slut Agnes.

"Hey, calm down," Patrick soothed his mate a hand on her arm, "let's just purchase what we want and get out of here. Let's not even think about her, at least for right now anyway. I promise to not bring her up again."

"All I want is to go track across the city and then torture that cunt bitch for a week or two before I finally drain her dry," Julia said calming down a little although her voice was still a growl.

"If that's what you really want I'm sure we can find her without to much trouble as her scent is very, distinctive," Patrick said. "I think we should just drain her dry though."

"Actually it might not be bad to just to see how she's doing now that she can never she go back to the La Java," Julia suggested. "If her life is falling to pieces and maybe we should leave her alive so she can reap the benefits of her actions, but if she's doing well then we could drain her dry."

"Why do you think her life is falling apart just because she was thrown out of the La Java?" asked Patrick curiously.

"I don't know for sure," Julia admitted, "but I got the impression that she hung out at the La Java, because the manager was an old friend of her father's and put up with her. You know put up with the way she dressed and acted, that kind of thing. I got the feeling that she doesn't care for her parents very much and that the manger kind of felt sorry for her."

"You might be right," Patrick admitted slowly well aware that Julia was more in tune with human nature than he was, and that she would be able to sense the undercurrents of emotion better then he could, but then again Julia had once been human while he had always been a vampire so maybe that had something to do with it.

"I would consider it a very worthy revenge if Agnes life is falling apart now that the old friend of her father's is out of the picture."

"Of course if she's doing well, it's a different story entirely," Patrick said liking Julia's idea immensely.

"Precisely," Julia said with an absolutely wicked grin that made Patrick cock stand at attention as he found his mate, soon to be wife absolutely riveting.

"I want you," Patrick told his mate quite seriously, "but then I always do."

"Well then, why don't we go back to that little house we rented and make love for as long as we like?" Julia suggested with another wicked grin. "I'm game if you are."

"Trust me," Patrick told her his voice husky, "I'm more than game where you are concerned."

Patrick and Julia headed towards the man who tried his best to not look at them nervously, although both Patrick and Julia could almost smell it rolling off the man as he rang up their purchases.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

"So, what kind of wedding would you prefer?" asked Patrick.

It was quite sometime later as the two of them lay sated from making love. They had fucked each other again and again and had brought each other to multiple orgasms apiece without getting tired or stopping like a human would have to.

"Well, it's not like we have any friends outside the family," Julia pointed out, "so it'll have to be small and intimate which is fine with me actually, as I prefer that. I never been one for thinking of walking down the aisle with 500 people watching me."

"What I meant was that we could go to Las Vegas to get married in one of their wedding chapels there," Patrick said.

"Oh," Julia said thinking about it, but then she shook her head. "Your mother would never forgive me if we did that and if she wasn't there."

"Not to mention my sisters who are just as wedding crazy as mom is," Patrick said his voice so dry that it caused Julia to giggle.

"Well, when you really think about it weddings are really for females and the men just have to show up and say the right things at the right time. It's always the women that plan weddings anyway while the man just stands on the sidelines not interfering. Of course some men enjoy planning events like weddings and parties, but mostly it's the women that do that."

Patrick shook his, but agreed. "You're right, weddings are for the woman really, so I suppose that means that you decided to get our family involved."

"Yeah," Julia said with a laugh, "as there is no way in hell I'm going to get on our mom's, not to mention all your sisters, and Alisa's shit list if they aren't invited."

Patrick laughed at that knowing it was true and that all the women in his family could hold a grudge until the end of time. "Don't forget, my Aunt Charlotte and her and Uncle Peter's two daughters."

Julia had met Patrick's Aunt Charlotte and his Uncle Peter on a few occasions now and had liked both of them as well as all six of their children who were, of course all grown up. Peter and Charlotte's four boys were the same age as Patrick brother Bryon and his 4 brothers and 3 sisters, since they had been born at the same time, while their two daughter was 20 years younger.

"No, we mustn't forget them," Julia agreed. "I like your Aunt Charlotte and your Uncle Peter, although your uncle can be a bit of wiseass."

"That's just Uncle Peter for you," Patrick said. "He's always been a bit of a practical joker, at least according to what my father anyway."

"Well, if he even thinks of pulling a practical joke on my wedding day, he'll regret it and that's a promise," Julia said looking fierce.

"I'll have a talk with him," Patrick promised. "He wouldn't want to mess up our wedding day, if only because Aunt Charlotte would kill him, and he does his best to never get her mad at him as she can withhold sex for months if she is really angry."

"Wow, I believe I like your Aunt Charlotte even more after knowing that," Julia said impressed as she knew she could never stay away from Patrick for more than a day or two at most before she would give in, but then again Peter and Charlotte had been mated a long time, much longer than her adoptive parents had been since they had discovered each other during the Southern Wars. "You'd better never get me that mad at you buddy, or I'll do the same thing," Julia mock scolded him knowing in her heart it would never happen as she didn't have Charlotte's willpower when it came to giving Patrick what he wanted and she would always forgive him within a very short time.

"You know with you wouldn't last for more than a week before giving in," Patrick told her confidently.

Julia didn't say anything. although she knew very well that Patrick was correct in his assumption.

"So what would you like to do for our wedding? You know what kind decorations do you want? Do you want to have a reception? That type of thing," Patrick asked,

"How can we have reception, when we don't eat human food?" asked Julia puzzled.

"Well think about of what we do for Christmas," Patrick said. "You know how we kidnap 2 or 300 humans and have a feast over the next two weeks," Patrick said.

"You know, I've always been puzzled how your family could kidnap that many humans even if it's only once a year without any other people noticing."

"Well we go after bums and criminals as you know," Patrick explained, "the type of people that nobody cares if they disappear. Also, we get them from different parts of the country that are hundreds, even thousands of miles apart from each other, which also helps. There will always be criminals, and people who live on the street because they can't get a job for one reason or another and those are the types we go after. In a way, we're doing the world a favor by cleaning up the rubbish," Patrick said who had always been pragmatic about taking human lives just so long as it wasn't a child or a decent law-abiding person. It was like taking out the trash a necessary thing in his opinion, even if a lot of the human race would say that every life was precious and special and deserved to live. The human prisons after all were often overrun with criminals as there were a lot more criminals in the world than there were prisons to hold them. It didn't help that the police organizations all over the world were often underfunded and didn't have enough manpower to handle as many criminals as there were in the world. Not to mention the fact that a lot of criminals were so smart that they weren't even suspected of any wrongdoing and therefore were never caught or at least not caught until they had commented numerous atrocities.

"It helps that we're always careful, always watching out for people who are out late at night and also for cameras," Patrick added after a moment. "We always go into town between 1 am and about 5 as some people start to get ready for work about then. Sometimes criminals disappearing cause comment if their known to the police, but the cops don't really care if say a major drug dealer or a dozen prostitutes disappear as it means one less headache for them to have to deal with and as for the bums, the only other people that miss them are other bums and who listens to someone who lives on the street anyway?"

"You really have some operation going," Julia said shaking her head admiringly, but then again she had had that opinion of her new family for sometime. They were always careful about being noticed when they went out hunting just by themselves for example and doubly careful when the headed out to gather up the hundreds of humans necessary to feed their very large family, which only kept getting larger.

"Yes," Patrick said, "but it's taking more and more humans to do that, considering how much our family has grown, so it might be a good idea just to start using that artificial blood, not for all the holiday festivities, of course, just some of them to lessen the amount of humans we need to kidnap."

"That would probably be a very good idea, because eventually someone in authority is going to notice that 5 or 600 humans disappear around the time of the holiday season," Julia suggested. "It might not happen for 100 years, but eventually it will. Maybe the family should confine themselves to just having a holiday feast on Christmas Eve and maybe New Year's, you would need far fewer humans that way and therefore it won't be as noticeable. Besides if your family keeps growing even more humans would need to start disappearing and that's not good."

"I'll discuss it with dad next time we see him," Patrick promised and Julia nodded, "because you're right. When our family was a reasonable size and we didn't have to kidnap so many humans it was okay, but now that we need to kidnap 400 or so it is just getting to be to many people disappearing over a month or more and technology is a lot more advanced now then back when I was born in the 1950s. Things were a lot more primitive then, there weren't security cameras everywhere for instance. It was in the late 60s that security cameras came into common use and they were never actually invented per say as regular cameras were adopted for it. They were hooked up to a reel to reel VTR and started to be used in banks. At the time it was very new technology."

"The technology has only advanced and improved ever since the late 1960s," Julia said as always amazed at what Patrick knew what not that many people did unless they were interested in old and obscure facts, but Patrick has been born in the very early 1950's so she she supposed that it was only natural as after all you can't live as long as her mate had and not learn things.

"Yes, it has, it's one of the reasons that my family and I are so careful when we do go out in public, even if we're just going to say shopping or the movies. We always make sure we are dressed appropriately for what the weather is predicting for example and we also make sure we wear either contacts or sunglasses because you can't really tell we're not human unless you see our eyes thanks to that artificial blood that was invented just a few years ago as you know."

Yes, Julia was well aware of all the precautions that the Whitlocks had to take so that nobody realized what they were and it was only because of how careful they always were whenever they went out in public that they and their very large family had a relatively peaceful existent. Other vampires weren't as careful as her family was and there had been more then one close call already. She's supposed it was lucky that they no longer sparkled in the sun as that was one big hurdle out of the way to them being different, although Julia wasn't sure if the others of her kind even knew about the breakthrough of the artificial blood or it they did if they bothered using it. It would be relatively easy for a vampire to get into a hospital somewhere and steal the formula just like the Whitlocks had done when it was first perfected.

"So when do you want to have the wedding?" asked Patrick after a few minutes of silence.

"It really shouldn't take too long to plan," Julia admitted, "especially with all our female relatives helping me out whether I want them to or not and not having to sleep will also make the planning go faster."

Patrick burst into laughter at that because what Julia said was very true as he knew very well that all his sisters and his mother would definitely want to get involved in the planning even if Julia told them she could do it all herself. Also Patrick was sure that Alisa, Julia's sister would also want to help.

"Look at this way with all our female relatives to help it won't take more than a few weeks to plan," Patrick said.

Julia nodded as that was a good point. "You know maybe we should get married at Christmas," Julia said. "The whole family will be there already anyway and this way we can combine our Christmas feast with our wedding reception."

Patrick nodded liking the idea since Christmas was only a couple of months away. "I like the idea," Patrick said. "We'll have to call mom right away though so that she can start planning."

"Or maybe we should just sit back and start planning it ourselves on the way back to the States, Julia suggested.

"Cut our vacation short," said Patrick not liking the idea at all.

"Look it this way," Julia encouraged him, "the sooner we get married the sooner we can take a nice long honeymoon. We can even take six months if we really wanted to as it isn't like we have jobs that we can't afford to be gone that long from. I know that most people only take a couple of weeks, but then most people have to work."

Patrick beamed at that as he like the idea immensely. "I say we take a year-long honeymoon after our wedding and only come back for Christmas next year," Patrick suggested.

"That's even better," Julia agreed sounding extremely happy. "We could spend a month at each place we decide to visit, maybe rent a house or condo that we could use as our central base and take day trips and some overnight ones to and stay in hotels along the way."

"We'll have to make sure that we feed fairly often whenever we're going to be away overnight, Patrick cautioned. "I know we can't really get stuck anywhere since we can run very fast and be back in civilization in no time, but still it's a precaution we need to take, you especially since your still fairly new to this life, just to be on the safe side."

Julia nodded as that made sense. She had been told more than once by various members of the family that a hungry vampire was an out-of-control vampire and that if she got hungry while alone or even with Patrick in the wilderness and came across someone no matter if they were a child or not they wouldn't stand a chance and be dead before she could stop herself. Julia knew that she would never forgive herself if she killed a child, even if it was an accident so she made sure she fed regularly. Killing an innocent would be bad enough and she might be able to forgive herself for that eventually, but not if she drained a child just because she was hungry, so if Patrick felt that taking these precautions was necessary then they're there was nothing else to be said on the matter.

"You're not going to argue with me at all?" asked Patrick teasing his mate a little.

"No, because I know you want what's best for me and besides I would never forgive myself if I was hungry and then I killed a child. I might forgive myself if I drained an innocent adult, eventually, but not a child," Julia told her mate quite seriously. "And maybe it might be a good idea to mix up some of that artificial blood and buy some thermoses and a cooler so we can take it with us just in case we do get stuck in the wilderness."

Patrick nodded as that made perfect sense and he wasn't one for killing children either and in fact his whole family didn't like killing children at all if it could be helped. Of course, if one saw something they weren't supposed to then of course, they would have to die whether the Whitlocks liked it or not. "Mixing some of that artificial blood and taking it with us is a very good idea and if you do that there is far less chance that if we do get stuck out in the middle of nowhere, which is unlikely I'll admit, we'll both have a source of blood just in case. Also I agree with you, that children are innocent, and deserve to grow up and live their lives. You know that my whole family subscribes to that attitude actually, although most if not all the rest of our kind don't."

"I know, it's one of the reasons I like your family so much," Julia admitted, "despite the fact that you are vampires. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that your parents have such ironclad ideas of what is right and wrong and even though we have to live off blood in order to survive there are some things that are not acceptable to your family and killing children is one of them. I believe that your whole family is much more compassionate then a lot of humans and I'm sure the same is true for a lot of vampires as well."

"Most vampires don't see humans as anything except a food source," Patrick told his mate. "Most vampires don't try to blend in with humans as we do. It's true, we live by ourselves and have no friends like humans do, but when we do go into town, we do our best to blend in, unlike most of our kind."

"I know, I've been a vampire for only just under five years now, but I've come to realize that it's a lonely life."

"Yes, it really is," Patrick agreed. "Us Whitlock's are very lucky that we can have children because the rest of our kind cannot and also that our family is so large so we always have someone to talk to if we want. So when do you want to tell our parents that we've gotten engaged?" added Patrick after a few moments of silence his question coming out of the blue. Patrick always referred to his parents as Julia's as well and Julia was sure that it was to subtly remind her that she was accepted and did have a family who loved her.

"Oh I don't know, it will have to be soon though as we have a wedding to plan and that takes time and if we really want to get married on Christmas we are really going to have to get hopping. It's just a good thing that vampires don't need to sleep as we'd never get everything done in time if they did."

"Hey there's no need to go overboard is there?" asked Patrick.

"Well it's going to be a small, simple ceremony," Julia admitted, "but then there are a lot of preparations to make. We need to go get you fitted for a tux for one thing and I need to pick out a wedding dress for another."

"I already have a tux," Patrick told her, "and it's not even out of date as I wore it to Bryon's and Scott's wedding and they've only been married for eight years."

"I'll have to see, before we decide if you need a new one," Julia decided. "Tuxedos come in different styles you know and those styles change all the time. Where is your tux?"

"It's at the house in Philadelphia in my closet," Patrick said. "That was where your brother spent his first couple of years as a vampire and we had the wedding there too. My mother made sure it was in a garment bag just so that it didn't get dusty or dirty before we hung it in the back of my closet."

"Shouldn't be too much trouble to retrieve," Julia said.

"No it shouldn't," Patrick agreed. "We could even do it before we head to Houston house if you want."

"Let's not rush things considering we haven't even told the family that we're now engaged," Julia said. "We can have one of the family retrieve it, whoever's closest."

"So should we tell my parents that we're engaged in person or should we do it over the phone?"

"Well, this isn't really the kind of thing you tell someone over the phone, even if it's good news," Julia said. "Personally I think it's better to tell your parents in person along with whatever other family members just happen to be at the house when we arrive."

"Alright then," Patrick said giving in with good grace considering his vacation with his mate was being cut incredibly short, but then he also had that year long honeymoon to look forward to, which he was very much and he knew Julia was to. "Just let me call dad to see if they're still at the house in Houston or if they've moved somewhere else."

"I hadn't thought of that, but that is a good idea," Julia agreed. "I didn't think about the fact that you've been telling me you move from house to house fairly often, since you don't age and all that."

"Yes, they're probably still there though, because it's only been just under five years and we usually stay in one place for at least ten if we aren't out traveling. My father and mother have always said that it's better to move every decade or so even though we don't interact with the city people very much and therefore no one really knows us, but we also don't want somebody to get curious."

"And humans can be very curious," Julia agreed.

"Yes, they can," Patrick agreed. "Now enough talking, I have plans for the rest of what remains of the day and night and they don't include talking about when plans or anything else for that matter."

"Oh really?" asked Julia with an arched eyebrow. "And what plans do you have?"

"As if you don't know," Patrick said knowing with absolute certainty that Julia was just teasing him.

"I do indeed," Julia said so as she pounced on him taking him by surprise which made her purr in pleasure.

And after that there was no more talking, unless you counted screams, growls, whimpers and purrs of pleasure that is.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

When Patrick and Julia arrived back at the house in Houston, Jasper and Bella were there to greet their son and daughter. "To what do we owe the pleasure of seeing you two so soon? We didn't expect to see you for at least the next six months. No, problems I hope?" asked Jasper with a raised eyebrow.

"Why don't we go inside and Julia and I will explain why you are seeing us again so soon," Patrick said suggested trying his best to hide a grin at his father and mother's worried expressions.

All four went inside and took seats in the den, while Bella offered, "Anybody want something to drink?" What Bella meant was did they want glasses of that artificial blood to help with their thirst. It was still very strange for all of the Whitlocks actually, whenever one of the family offered them a glass of blood, because it was kind of like being human and being offered a glass of soda or iced tea when coming to visit.

"Sure," Julia said speaking for the first time as she had been trying to keep her expression neutral instead of grinning like an idiot so that her parents would know what was up, although she was sure that Jasper suspected from the way he kept glancing back and forth between them, although he said nothing. He could read their emotions very easily thanks to his talent.

"Here you go," Bella said that he passed out four different glasses of blood off the tray she had them on. "So tell us why you're home so soon? Nothing bad I hope?"

"No it's nothing bad," Patrick said, "just that we need your help with something that's all."

"I'll be glad to help you, but with what?" asked Bella just a tad impatiently and Patrick decided then and there that he and Julia had better just tell her before she really started to get impatient, which was not a good thing.

"Oh, planning our wedding," Julia said having apparently decided the same thing.

Bella squealed and immediately jumped off the couch where she was sitting beside Jasper and gave both of her children hugs and kisses.

Jasper for his part grinned and also got off the couch in order to give both his son and daughter hugs and kisses on the cheek, although it was clear he was trying to contain his excitement.

"You have to tell us all about how Patrick proposed," Bella told her soon-to-be daughter-in-law.

"He was very romantic about it," Julia said her eyes going misty in remembrance. "We were in Paris just seeing some of the sites and then Patrick took me dancing at one of these nightclubs called the La Java. We were having such a very good time dancing closely to each other with hundreds of humans swirling around us." Julia's expression changed in an instant and Jasper immediately asked, "Why so upset all of a sudden you're having a great time dancing?"

"It's because of this woman dressed like a tart. You know a blouse that showed her...boobs, that kind of thing," Patrick explained when it was clear that Julia didn't want to answer. "She wanted to dance with me and I told her no that I wasn't interested, that I was married and she kept persisting until finally Julia begin to get very angry and annoyed, which I could hardly blame her for as I was feeling the same way at that point."

"So what happened?" asked Bella interested on how they had dealt with the tart.

"Well, Patrick, was so annoyed and angry he actually dragged her to the manager to complain and it turned out that the only reason she was allowed in the club with the way she was dressed was because he was an old friend of her father's."

"It turned out that there were already quite a few complaints leveled against her as a lot of women not to mention the men didn't appreciate her so-called attentions," Patrick added. "Our complaint though was the last straw as she was thrown out of the club for good as the manager said that he was losing to much business and that he could no longer put up with her antics."

Patrick and Julia's expressions of malicious satisfaction were kind of a surprise to both Jasper and Bella as both of them didn't usually take pleasure in someone else's misfortunate, but then neither could really blame them in this case either.

"So what happened after that?" asked Jasper taking a sip of his blood.

"Well, nothing much, at least for a few days," Patrick explained. "First I took Julia to the Eiffel Tower as I had been planning to propose as soon as the two of us decided to go to Paris because I wanted to ask Julia to marry me in the most romantic city in the world."

"He proposed alright on bended knee and everything right in front of the Eiffel Tower just as the sun was rising," Julia said as she took out her engagement ring from where was hanging on a necklace around her neck and under her shirt and put it back on her finger.

"So where did he get the ring?" asked Bella. "The two of you haven't been separated long enough for him to go and get you one."

"He used his crest ring, and once I said yes to his proposal, as if there was any doubt, he said that he had been planning that we take a walk down the Champs-Élysées since it was so romantic and also because there were several jewelry stores along that famous street."

"We went to Helzberg Diamonds, which has top of the line quality jewelry and I let Julia pick out her own ring along with anything else she wanted of course," Patrick added.

"So what happened to the tart?" asked Jasper.

"Ah, now there's loaded question," Patrick said with a very satisfied gleam in his red eyes. "A few days later we went to her apartment, which was in a very poor section of the city, as I was able to track her scent, since it was very distinctive, all the way across the city and found out that her life was absolutely in shambles."

"In what way?" asked Bella.

"Well, it turned out that the manager of Agnes's apartment house also had a sideline of either enticing very beautiful girls into whoring as he was a pimp as well or kidnapping them just so long as he was sure that they didn't have any family that would care if those woman turned up missing," Patrick explained.

"So long as Agnes had the protection of the owner of the La Java, the manager left her alone, but when she lost that protection…" Julia explained with a truly evil and malicious smirk, which was a very out of place expression on her beautiful face but on the other hand the other three vampires and the room could hardly blame her for needing to get a little revenge after what had happened.

"So I take it that this Agnes was a very beautiful girl despite the way she dressed," Jasper said.

"Yes, underneath the makeup, hair dye and her clothes she really was very gorgeous," Patrick admitted, "not that I'm interested in anyone else, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate beauty in a kind of detached way."

"I wouldn't be in the least surprised to discover that if she didn't go willingly into that life that she would be kidnapped and threatened until she obeyed," Julia said, "especially after Patrick and I saw how the man kept eyeing her as if she was a five course dinner."

Everybody laughed at that and Jasper and Bella both felt that Agnes had gotten exactly what she deserved as that she had tried to steal Julia's mate even if she had no idea what she had done. If Agnes had just taken no he wasn't interested for an answer then they wouldn't now be celebrating her downfall and it was the opinion of everybody in the room as people like that deserved what they got.

"I say she got what was coming to her," Bella said raising her now half-empty glass of blood in a salute.

"And I agree," Jasper said calmly, but the pride, love and satisfaction in his eyes made Julia feel warm all over.

"So now onto more important subjects, like wedding plans," Bella said changing the subject.

"Yes, we do need to talk about that, although Patrick and I did consider just going to Las Vegas and getting married without any of the family," Julia said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"No! You didn't seriously consider doing it without all of your family there did you?" asked Bella genuinely horrified.

"Only for about two seconds mom," Patrick said coughing in order to hide a laugh. "Julia knew that you and the other ladies in the family would be very upset with us if we did that."

"We didn't want you or the other women in the family to hold a grudge against us for the next 500 years or so," Julia said.

"Would I have done that?" asked Bella already knowing the answer to her question.

"Yes," the other three vampires in the room said immediately.

"You still pester Trey and Lindsey about getting married, and they've been mated over fifty years," Patrick added with a twinkle in his eyes, "and you are also pester Gerik and Brianna to get married again with their family around them even tough they got married in Vegas by themselves."

"Really what is a piece of paper mean anyway especially for our kind?" asked Julia. "The only reason Patrick and I are getting married in the human fashion is because we want to, but obviously the previous mentioned couple do not care if they have that piece of paper as being mated is the same thing in the vampire world."

"Besides mom I'm not really surprised that Trey and Lindsey don't want to get married or that they're digging in their heels because neither one of them has ever been one to do something just because someone else wants them to. They don't like to be pushed into doing a thing just because somebody else wants it so it's no wonder they keep refusing. Maybe if you quit pestering them every time they show their faces they'd eventually would get married," Patrick told his mother.

"Both Trey and Brianna have the Whitlock stubbornness," Jasper added, "and you'll never get your way if you keep on pestering them and I've told you this before. Besides Gerik and Brianna are already married and they don't see any reason to get married again when they've already done it once."

"You're all right," Bella admitted. "I know you are, and I really can't understand why I want them to get married in the human fashion so badly as being mated is the same thing at least in the vampire world. I'll try not to pester them anymore or about them having children either."

"Good, I'm proud of you," Jasper said, very proud of his mate's realization that she really was being a nag at least where those two couples were concerned. "Maybe we'll see more of them if they realize that you're not going to nag them to death. I don't really blame you for wanting them to get married, but all four are grown adults and can make their own decisions and most vampire couples bother to get married in the human fashion so why should Trey and Lindsey. Besides it's really not entirely your fault as it's partly the vampire genes," Jasper explained after a moment. "When a vampire gets an idea in their heads it is very hard to dislodge it. It's kind of like getting a song stuck in your head that you can't get rid of."

Bella nodded as that made entirely to much sense. She really had been a nag and she was determined to break the habit if at all possible as she didn't want to be thought of as someone who didn't know when to give it up. "So wedding plans?" Bella suggested changing the subject again and Julia happily followed along as the two women started to discuss what they needed to do in order to get ready in time for a Christmas wedding.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

It was three decades later on their 30th mating anniversary as a mated couple that Julia brought up the subject of having children, for as much as she enjoyed having Patrick all to herself she thought it was time and besides she really did want children and she knew that Patrick did as well. Julia and Patrick had of course, discussed having children sometime in the future on and off in the last 30 years together, but at that time they had not been ready, but now Julia felt that she was and she hoped that Patrick felt the same as she did.

"Patrick," Julia began a little tentatively.

"Yes?" asked Patrick as he observed his mate from when she was sitting across from here in the living room of the house that Patrick had bought some decades ago outside of New York so that he would have someplace private to go for some peace and quiet when he wanted it.

"I think it's time that we discuss having children," Julia began. "I want them and I feel that I am ready to have them and although all this time alone with you has been wonderful..."

"It was something that you wanted very badly when you were human and you are starting to get anxious about having children on your own," Patrick finished his mate's thought.

"Yes," Julia admitted feeling a little anxious. "Before this I didn't feel as if I was ready to give up my time alone with you, but now that we have been mated 30 years and married for almost 25, I think it is time that we gave our parents, grandchildren as I know that mom is especially anxious to have some. Besides from what you've told me they will grow really fast and be out of the house in a year or two or maybe five tops and then we can be alone again, until we decide we want more."

"I agree," Patrick said eliminating most of Julia's anxiety. "I think we are both ready to have some children. Don't get me wrong the time alone with you has been wonderful and it has been very good for our mating bond and our relationship, but I want children just as much as you do and so it's time."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you," Julia said leaning over to kiss Patrick passionately on the lips letting him know how very grateful she was that he agreed that it was time to discuss having children.

"You're welcome," Patrick said. "I probably would have brought it up in another few months anyway, but you beat me to it," he added with a chuckle. "Before we definitely decide that we are ready though I think we need to discuss it for the next month or two, before we come to a firm decision. I mean as much as we both want the children it will mean a big change in our lives, for at least the next year or two if not longer. We won't be able to do any traveling for example or come to our cottage just to be alone."

Julia nodded knowing Patrick was right and that there would be very many long discussions on the subject of children for the next few months anyway.

"Change is good," Julia pointed. "We can't always have things the same way or it becomes stagnant."

"True," Patrick agreed giving his wife a very passionate kiss on the lips before releasing her and then playfully peppering her face with kisses and licks. "Still when we do decide we want children, whether that is in a few months time or hundred years from now it will mean a big change in our lives as we will probably barely have any uninterrupted time alone."

"Why not? Once the children are out on their own they can call us but we'll probably not see them that much unless they want to visit for some reason," Julia said practically. "Just think about your siblings and you'll know what I mean. Your brothers and sisters are always traveling the world and although they might visit our parents occasionally most of the time mom and dad don't see some of their children except at Christmas, unless one of them stops by for a short visit."

"You have made a very good point," Patrick admitted knowing that Julia was right.

"Of course I have," Julia lightly teased her mate. "In all seriousness though I know as much as we both want children that we do need to have a few discussions about it before we actually decide to go and do it as we don't need to rush into anything since we have time since I am not going to get to old to have children, like a human would after all."

"We need to start listing the pros and cons," Patrick said logically. "In other words why it is a good idea and also why it is not."

"That is going to place to start is any," Julia said. "We can get started on that a little later though as I have plans for us right now."

"And what are those plans?" asked Patrick immediately noticing the gleam in Julia's ruby red eyes.

"Why to fuck you senseless of course, right here on the rug in front of the fire," Julia said. "I would never think of doing that if there was anybody else here but the two of us but since we are quite alone and nobody knows about this little cottage except the two of us I can do what I want to you and vice versa. We could even walk around buck naked 24 hours a day, if we really wanted to since we can't get sick."

"Now there's an idea," Patrick said with a certain excited gleam in his eyes. "Why don't we start doing that unless we're going to going into town in order to feed. Personally I like seeing you completely naked as I love looking at your body and that will never change."

"Same goes," Julia said that she stripped out of her clothes and threw them into a chair not even bothering to fold them while Patrick did the same. It was only seconds later that both of them were buck naked laying on the rug in front of the fire that they had built up for this chilly night. It wasn't necessarily that the two needed the warmth since they couldn't freeze to death, but that didn't mean that they didn't enjoy feeling the heat on their skin all the same and besides it was also very romantic.

"I love you," Julia told Patrick softly, but intensely and sincerely kissing him all over his face before moving down to his chest to continue what she was doing.

"And I love you," Patrick assured her already beginning to get aroused just from looking at his wife's naked body. "The more time we spend together the more intense my love becomes."

"And I feel the exact same way," Julia told him their lips seeming to meet without any directions on their parts.

Once they broke apart Patrick and Julia began to make slow and gentle love in front of the fire for an indeterminate length of time and it was hours later that the two climaxed for at least the dozenth time and then just lay in each others arms finally sated for the moment.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

Patrick and Julia had finally decided that they were ready to have some children after discussing it on and off ever since their anniversary, which had made Bella extremely happy when she and Jasper were told as she had been looking forward to having grandchildren, which none of her children had yet produced. Trey and Lindsey or Gerik and Brianna had not yet had any and had never even mentioned the possibility of children in hers or Jasper's presences and Bella had finally become resigned to the fact that they might never decide to have any at all.

Now though Bella was practically glowing when Patrick and Julia came and visited them at their house that was in Hawaii, which had been bought 20 years ago, as kind of a private retreat for the two of them. The house in question was really just a small, little bungalow with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a small den, a slightly larger living room, and a kitchen. It was really just a place for Jasper and Bella to get away, to spend some time alone away from the family, so that they could renew their bond again and again in peace without constant interruptions of one of their family. When Patrick and Julia told their parents that they were ready to start a family Bella jumped up off the couch and practically smothered both Patrick and Julia in hugs and kisses.

Julia had started to refer to Jasper and Bella as mom and dad quite sometime ago as it had only seemed natural since she and Patrick had gotten officially married 25 years ago and it had seemed less awkward then to keep referring to them as Jasper and Bella, especially since she was mated as well as married in the human fashion to their son.

"I'm so happy," Bella said looking so happy as if she had just won the Nobel Prize.

"We can tell," Patrick told his mother with a grin that exactly matched his father's

"We know you've been longing for grandchildren, and since Trey and Lindsay or Gerik and Brianna don't seem interested in getting around to giving you any we figured it was time," Julia added. "I am more than ready to be a mother something that I never thought would happen to me, once I came down with leukemia at the young age of nineteen. At that time I figured my prospects of marrying and having children were pretty low, until I met Patrick that is."  
"You're sure you're ready?" asked Jasper looking concerned. "You've only been mated in 30 years after all. Are you sure you don't want to wait a few more decades?"

Bella shot her husband a look that told him more eloquently then words ever could if you mess this up and I don't get my grandchildren you are in big trouble so watch it.

"No dad, Julia and I have discussed this at some length over the last several months and we have decided that both of us are more than ready to start a family," Patrick assured his father.

Jasper nodded as that was the response he had expected, but he'd had to make absolutely sure that his son and daughter were ready to start a family of their own.

Bella immediately calmed down when her son confirmed that they were ready to start a family of their own and her initial anger at Jasper dissipated.

"Very well then," Jasper said. "Bella and I keep the necklace in a safety deposit box at the First Bank of the United States in Philadelphia and we will have to go there in order to get it."

"It was probably smart to keep it in a safety deposit box since you don't need it all the time," Julia admitted, "but why in Philadelphia?"

"Because that is where our largest estate is located," Bella told her daughter. "It will give the children room to run and play. It is outside the city and has a fairly high wall so that people can't be nosy and see what is going on and it is far enough off the beaten track that most people have forgotten it even exists as the city limits haven't reached that far yet, which I know will not always be the case."

"Our family owned a lot of large estates at one time," Patrick explained to Julia, "but once all of us children were grown, mom and dad decided they didn't need most of them anymore, so they got rid of all, but one or two, keeping them for the purposes of family get-togethers."

"And also have a couple of places where we could raise any grandchildren in peace," Bella added, "although we were beginning to give up hope of that ever happening or at least I was."

Julia nodded as she had known that. "We'll meet you in Philadelphia, then," Julia said. "When do you want to do that?"

Jasper looked at Bella and saw how eager she was and so said, "We'll meet you there day after tomorrow as we need to close up the house, pack our things, get our shuttle fueled, that kind of thing."

"Thank you for doing this," Bella told the two of them softly giving both her son and daughter kisses on the cheek again and giving them each one more hug. "I know you're not doing it just for me, but thank you all the same."

"Why do I have a feeling that our children are going to be spoiled rotten?" asked Julia sarcastically.

"Because you know how grandparents are?" Patrick suggested with that adorable little grin that made Julia wet down in her pussy ever single time and also desperately want him, which she was sure Patrick was aware of.

"I have a feeling that mom and dad are going to be worse than any other grandparents in the history of the human race. I'm sure they'll be showered with every material thing they can think of."

Julia had accepted a long time ago that her husband and his family were more than indecently rich as between Bella, Jasper, all their children and their mates had trillions of dollars to their names. Of course, Julia realized that it had taken centuries of wise investments to build up to be that much and so she couldn't really hold their money against them as vampires lived forever and even they needed cash. Julia, well remembered the day that Patrick told her that he, as well as his parents and all of his siblings had bestowed $3 billion on her and her other three siblings apiece, so that all four of them were now indecently rich. She remembered how she had protested that it was too much, but also how Patrick had countered every single one of her arguments without getting mad once even through she was screaming at him. Julia felt nostalgic remembering that day as she had told Patrick on more than one occasion over the last thirty years that she did have a temper, which seemed to go along with the red hair.

Julia knew very well that however many children she had they would be spoiled rotten and they would have trust funds set up in their names once they were full grown and their wasn't a thing she could do about it. Ah, well, at least her children wouldn't have to struggle to make a living like a lot of humans as well as vampires did as it wasn't like they could get jobs with them being what they were.

"So how many children do you want to have?" asked Jasper curious as to the answer.

Patrick and Julia looked to each other and then Patrick replied, "Well Julia I did discuss that to and we thought we would like at least 10 or so, not all at the same time of course. If we have more than that, neither Julia or I will object."

"Oh, 10 grandchildren," Bella said looking extremely happy at the prospect of having so many grandchildren to spoil. The only problem in her opinion was that as pure vampire children they grew up much too fast.

"It might possibly be more," Julia admitted. "I always wanted a large family when I was human and then I came down with leukemia and I thought that my deepest desire would never be fulfilled. Of course if I was still human, I would never even have thought of having that many children, because a human body can get all worn out if it gives birth to often and it is very easy even in this century to die during childbirth. Not to mention I doubt I would've had the money to support that many children, but thanks to me now being a vampire, Patrick and I can have a many children as we desire."

"If it wasn't for that artificial blood, that we drink, so we don't need to feed off as many human when we go hunting, Julia and I would never have considered having more than five or six children as we know that a vampire can feed off at least two or three humans in one sitting and sometimes even four or five. I know the human population is at least four times what it was when I was born, but still having more than that that when we live off blood would be a bad idea if not for that synthetic stuff, especially since our family is already so large."

"And it just keeps growing," Jasper commented dryly, not seeming at all displeased that his family was so large or that it would continue to grow as more of his children found mates and had children of their own. "I think your plan to have at least 10 children is very sensible but if you want say 20 or 30, Bella and I certainly won't object because you're right with that artificial blood we drink at least once a week or more often depending, cuts down on the amount of humans that all of us can drain at one time, which in turn still leaves plenty of humans for our kind to feed off of for centuries to come."

"And also lessens the chance of humans finding out about us," Bella commented. "Of course our family is always careful about disposing of the evidence, but other vampires are not as careful as we are."

"So let's start closing up the house," Jasper said he looked around the den. "I think Bella and I have been here long enough and we've had plenty of time alone, lately."

"Yes, I'm sure you know we bought this place to get away from everything, kind of like our own private retreat," Bella said with a grin she remembered how her and Jasper had fucked each other senseless in every room of the house and on every piece of furniture, multiple times, although she didn't think her son and daughter needed to know that, although she was sure they knew what their parents had been doing, but that didn't mean she needed to confirm it.

"Yes, we've been here for over two years now," Jasper said looking around the den again fondly, "except when we joined the family for Christmas."

"Do you want any help?" asked Patrick.

"No," Jasper replied, "it won't take Bella and I, long to put dust sheets over everything and get what we want to take with us. We should be in Philadelphia sometime tomorrow, but since it's Saturday the bank won't open until Monday anyway so we don't really need to rush."

"Alright then," Julia agreed. "We'll meet you at the house in Philadelphia, Monday."

"We should be there by 10 o'clock or so, Monday morning with the necklace," Bella replied. "The bank opens at eight and it shouldn't take us too long to get into our safety deposit box and then get to the house as we always get preferential treatment since we are one of their largest account holders."

"Before you head to Philadelphia I want to know you have not only made Bella very happy, but me too as I have been just as anxious for some grandchildren as she has, even though I might be better at concealing it."

"You're welcome," Patrick told his father quietly giving him a manly hug. "Julia and I aren't doing it just for you as you know, but we both knew that you wanted grandchildren and so we decided it was time."

"I know, you aren't doing it for me or your mother, but still we appreciate it all the same," Jasper said having trouble at remaining calm like he usually could as he thought that soon he was going to be grandfather and that it was about damn time. "I never thought I'd have any children at all unless Bella and I bit them in the traditional vampire way, which you know we were unwilling to do. Thanks to that necklace though Bella and I had you and all your siblings and both of us would have been quite content with just that, but now..."

"...you are going to soon give us some grandchildren to spoil and your father and I are more than grateful, especially since Brianna and Gerik and Lindsey and Trey don't seem interested in having children at least for right now," Bella added finishing her mate's thought with ease, which really wasn't surprising considering that she and Jasper knew each other inside and out thanks to their centuries together. "I for one am ecstatic that you did decide you wanted children," Bella said. "Now why don't you two get going and we'll see you in less than 48 hours."

"Alright," Patrick agreed taking Julia's hand and leading her out the front door.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

A few minutes before 10 o'clock Monday morning, Jasper and Bella came up the drive to the house in Philadelphia in the car they had rented coming straight from the bank where they had easily gotten into their safety deposit box in order to get the Necklace of Artemis for Patrick and Julia.

"Here you go," Bella said presenting Julia with a blue jewelry box that had the Necklace of Artemis nestled within.

"Thank you, you don't know what this means to me," Julia said so happy that she was practically vibrating it.

"I believe I do, as like you I always wanted a family, but since I had a very high fever as a child where I almost died when I was human the doctor at the time said I would probably never be able to have any and then I met Jasper and that all changed, so yes I know exactly how it can be to want a family and not be able to have one."

"Still thank you," Julia said giving Bella hug and a kiss on the cheek and then doing the same to Jasper as they had always been more her parents then her own had.

"You're more than welcome," Bella told her with a small grin. "Now why don't you get going, and Jasper and I don't expect to see you for at least 24 hours."

"Yes ma'am," Patrick drawled more than happy to comply with his mother's request.

Jasper hid a grin at his son's words and watched as Patrick and Julia immediately headed upstairs at vampire speed Julia clutching the jewelry box for dear life.

"Well, it won't be long before we have three or four grandchildren to spoil," Bella told her mate with a wide grin. "I've been waiting for this day for a very long time and I'm so glad that Patrick and Julia decided to have a family, since Trey and Lindsey, and Gerik and Brianna never have and who knows if they ever will?"

"And you have been very patient," Jasper said kissing Bella on the lips. "I'm proud of you for that, as I know it took a lot out of you not to beg Trey and Lindsey and Gerik and Brianna about having children."

Bella rolled her eyes as she thought of the other two of her children that were mated and should have asked to borrow the necklace so they could start families of their own and no she wasn't including Bryon and Scott in that because they were both male and therefore couldn't have children. "I know, I mean both of them have been mated for 45 years and you would think that they would want to settle down by now and have at least a couple of children."

"Both couples are enjoying traveling the world too much," Jasper said with a shake of his head. "I don't think it's ever entered either of their minds that they can actually have children if they wanted to and that it doesn't take vampire children very long to grow up and get out on their own. I mean it would be five years tops before they could leave their children alone to do what they wanted and that they could get back to what they were doing before, after that."

"I suppose, that some people just never fully grow up," Bella said, "and I guess that could include vampires as well."

"We also have to consider that some people, whether they are vampires or not, just don't want any children, and although I don't know for sure that that's true, for the four of them they sure have avoided talking about children like the plague."

Bella snickered at that knowing it was very true.

"Now Miss Bella," Jasper said thickening his southern accent knowing that it drove his mate with desire, "What would you like to do while our son and daughter are busy?"

"You know very well what I'd like to do Mr. Whitlock," Bella told him her tone sultry.

"Well then, shall we retire to our bedroom and get started?"

"We shall," Bella agreed, "although I'm sure we need to dust a little first as I certainly don't want to make love amongst dirty sheets."

"Well it's just a good thing that we brought clean sheets with us as well as other cleaning supplies, isn't it?" Jasper asked with a smile having already known what Bella's response was going to be for even though they couldn't get sick because they were vampires, who enjoyed making love among dust and dirt and this place had been empty for several years after all.

"Alright, it shouldn't take us more than a few minutes to clean up our old bedroom and put clean sheets on the bed and then I intend to keep you very busy for the next day or so."

"Which I certainly am not going to object to," Jasper said as he and Bella headed for the stairs at vampire speed heading up to their bedroom.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

"Here, let me put it on you," Patrick said as he gently took the jewelry box from Julia's hand and opened it removing the crescent moon necklace very gently as if it was a precious thing. The necklace looked as if it was made of gold, but Patrick knew from experience with the Volturi that it was much more durable then that as no matter what their rulers had done to it, it would not be destroyed or even bent out of shape.

Julia turned around so that her naked back was facing her husband and Patrick draped the necklace down Julia's front and then very gently closed the clasp in the back. When the necklace was on it hung in the valley between Julia's naked breasts. The fact was that both Julia and Patrick were completely naked as both of them had gotten out of their clothes as soon as Patrick's bedroom door had shut behind them.

"Let's get started, shall we?" asked Julia sounding extremely eager and Patrick could hardly blame her for he was eager as well.

Patrick nodded and the two of them laid on the bed with Patrick on top of his mate. Patrick immediately began to kiss and lick all over Julia's breasts for they were the favorite part of his mate's body bar none. It wasn't that Patrick didn't love every single inch of Julia's hot, curvy, sexy, lithe body, but he had always been a breast man long before he had met her and he would remain so until the end of his days.

Julia responded as always and it didn't take long at all for her climax to reach such a point that she knew she was about to orgasm quite violently. Patrick had had 30 years of practice and therefore knew just how to bring her to the edge of her orgasm quickly. Of course the other side of the coin was that he also knew how to take it slowly to where she wouldn't climax for hours if he so desired. Truthfully Julia liked it either way and she could immediately tell that Patrick wasn't about to take his time when he was as anxious to get her pregnant as she was to become so.

Julia withered underneath Patrick and began to beg very loudly. "More, Patrick, more! I need you to fill me! To put out this burning in my belly as only you can!"

"Your tiniest desire shall be granted," Patrick told her his voice a soft, sexy growl that made Julia get even wetter down in her pussy as a result. Patrick began to speed up what he was doing to her and it wasn't very long at all before Patrick's cock entered her and released a very long stream of seed into her instantly putting out the intense burning on Julia's insides causing both her and Patrick to orgasm so violently at the same time that it almost felt like they were in the middle of violent storm. By the time both their climaxes subsided it was quite a few minutes later.

Both Patrick and Julia just laid there on the bed for sometime afterwards panting just enjoying each others company. After some time Patrick made as if to move off Julia but his mate's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"I like you just where you are," Julia told him leaning her head to the side so that she could kiss him on the nose and then on the lips.

"I'll be happy to stay right here," Patrick assured Julia his head buried in the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent, which he would never get enough of for as long as he was on this Earth as she smelled like peaches and cream, which came from the body wash and shampoo she used Patrick knew. He should know, he thought, because he had washed her with it often enough while they had sex in the shower, just like Julia washed him with the soap and shampoo he used.

After awhile Patrick asked, "Ready for another round?"

"I'm always ready," Julia told him with a lustful smirk which drove Patrick absolutely wild with desire. One of the things that Patrick really loved about Julia was that she absolutely loved having sex just as much as he did. Julia didn't care if he was gentle with her and took his time or if he was rough and fucked her senseless as she had told him on more than one occasion that she loved it both ways. Of course, as Patrick had told Julia so long ago, their relationship was absolutely equal and Julia had plenty of opportunities to fuck him senseless as well, which she took full advantage of and he enjoyed it just as much as when he fucked her.

Patrick began making love to Julia much more slowly this time and Julia purred and kept purring as Patrick made slow and gentle love to her for an unknown length of time and by the time both of them felt finally sated it was quite sometime later and each had been through at least thirty climaxes apiece.

"So how many babies do you think we created, from our love?" asked Julia.

Patrick glanced at the clock that sat on the bedside table and said that it was Wednesday at 9:35 in the morning and since they had started making love on Monday at about ten thirty it had been almost 48 hours lacking not quite an hour until then. "Well, I can see that your stomach is already quite engorged and it's been almost 48 hours since we began so probably at least 4 or 5."

Julia looked down and my stomach and was amazed at how big she was and she probably hadn't even been pregnant for more than a day or so.

"Are you saying that we made love for two days straight?" Julia asked. It certainly wasn't the longest stint they had spent in bed as they had spent a week more than once without getting up and doing anything else including feeding.

"Well not quite," Patrick said, "but close enough."

"Wow!" Julia said. "When we start fucking each other we lose all track of time, not that it matters any."

"So are you ready to get something to eat?" asked Patrick.

"Yes, suddenly I'm starved."

"I'm not surprised in the least," Patrick told Julia. "I'm sure you remember the stories that mom told us about how she was always hungry while she was pregnant and how she had to drink both blood and milk almost constantly, especially doing the last month."

"Yes, I remember," Julia said. "I know that I'm going to have to stay housebound until after our children are born, which I'm not looking forward to."

"I'll do my best to keep you distracted and I'm sure mom and dad will too," Patrick promised her. "Besides there's no reason that you and I can't go out and do things together for at least the first couple of months, but after that yes you're going to be housebound."

"Well I suppose that's better than being housebound for the whole pregnancy. I hope that your parents finished making all the preparations that needed to be made because I feel like if I don't get some blood as well as milk soon I'm going to starve to death," Julia said her throat burning like crazy and for the first time in thirty years she actually felt hungry, which she knew was because of the children now growing within her.

"Well, let's go get you some blood then," Patrick said as he got up off the bed and then pulled his wife to her feet.

"And don't forget the milk," Julia said.

"I'm sure that mom's been to the grocery store and probably bought at least 10 gallons, which I know won't last you more then a couple of weeks if that."

Julia and Patrick began to get dressed and then headed downstairs as both were pretty hungry although Julia was much more hungry then Patrick thanks to her being pregnant.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

"Congratulations you two!" Bella exclaimed as soon as she saw and how Julia has gone from her usual slender self to her stomach being extremely engorged because of her now being hugely pregnant.

It had always amazed Bella at how quickly her children had grown within her every time she had gotten pregnant and how she had always shown within hours and she was sure that Julia would be no different. Of course Julia's pregnant body looked a different, then her own had, but a large part of the reason that was so was because Julia was 5' 11' while she was only 5' 3', which was about average height for a woman who had been born in the early 1900s.

"Thank you, mom," Patrick said grinning from ear to ear, so happy that he almost glowed and so did Julia who placed a hand over her very pregnant stomach protectively, which was a universal gesture used by pregnant women all over the world.

"I can guess that you only emerged now because Julia was suddenly starving, am I right?" asked Jasper. "By the way congratulations from me as well."

"Thank you dad, and of course you are right," Patrick said grinning at his father. "By the way here's the Necklace of Artemis back as Julia I were careful not to damage it."

"Good," Jasper said taking the necklace from his son. "Why don't you show Julia the way to the wine cellar where Bella and I left over 50 humans for you."

"Those won't last any time if I'm going remain this hungry throughout my entire pregnancy," Julia said.

"Don't worry about that, I already have five of the children on it as they wanted to help as soon as they heard you were pregnant. We'll keep you well supplied with food, blood and milk as I remember each of Bella's pregnancies well and how much milk and blood she drank. I'm sure as soon as you drink some blood your stomach will be hungry for the first time since you became a vampire and this is only natural since Artemis did say that your organs would start to operate again while you were pregnant and stop once you had given birth."

"You've right about that as I do feel incredibly hungry that I know will not be satisfied by blood alone," Julia said.

"As for me I've already been to the store and bought out every single gallon of vitamin D milk," Bella added in her two cents. "The cashier was absolutely astonished that I was buying over fifty gallons until I explained that I was having a party and that I was also making a lot of things that required milk and that there would be over 200 guests. It was the only way to divert his suspicions as nobody buys that much milk at one time under normal circumstances."

"Wow! You bought over 50 gallons at one time? I had no idea a grocery store carried that much of one product at a time," Julia said impressed.

"I went to the biggest grocery store in Philadelphia," Bella explained. "It's one of those places that carries everything in bulk. You know where you have to buy two or more of something instead of just one at a time."

"We will of course supplement the human blood with the artificial, which should help," Jasper added. "It would've been very convenient if the artificial blood had been invented back when Patrick and all his siblings were born simply because Bella was eating food and drinking blood almost constantly, especially doing her second and fourth pregnancies."

"It sounds like you have everything under control," said Patrick not really surprised that his father did have everything well thought out as he had been through it four different times after all.

"I should since your mother and I have been through it before," Jasper pointed out with a wink, "even if it has been almost fifty years since our last batch of children was born."

Julia and Patrick nodded and then Patrick led his wife towards the kitchen where the door to the old wine cellar that they were using as sort of a storage area for humans was located.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

"Dad, can I have a word with you?" Patrick asked just a few days after Julia had gotten pregnant.

"Of course son," Jasper told him clapping Patrick on the shoulder. "I am always available for any of my children when they want to talk. Want to go to my office?"

"No that isn't really necessary as it is nothing private," Patrick answered immediately.

"Then why don't we go sit in the living room if you don't mind the other's hearing what you have to say?"

"That will be fine," Patrick said and father and son walked towards the living room which was empty at the moment since the children that visiting had gone off to their own activities

"So what did you want to talk about?" asked Jasper.

"Well," Patrick began, "Julia and I were discussing Christmas and how we always go kidnap so many humans for our Christmas feast and she was wondering how we were able to keep doing that and so many people disappearing not be noticed. She then suggested that we needed to cut down how many humans we kidnap at Christmas because eventually somebody's going to notice how so many people disappear even if we celebrate in a different city every year and even if they never tracked it back to us and the way technology keeps advancing all the time doesn't help at all..."

"It is getting to be quite a large number of humans disappearing," Jasper admitted looking thoughtful as this was not something he had considered before, although he knew he should have. "I'm guessing that Julia had a suggestion or you wouldn't have bothered to bring it up?"

"She did," Patrick said the pride in his eyes and voice very obvious to Jasper, who knew his son well, without him even having to read his son emotions. "She suggested that we just have our Christmas feast on New Year's and Christmas Eve and that way we would need to kidnap far less humans, probably not more then a hundred or so."

"It is a good suggestion," Jasper admitted, "and I think we'll implement it this Christmas. Everybody's going to be disappointed not to have a two week feast, but they are just going to have to get used the idea because Julia is right we do have to kidnap way too many humans now in order to feed our family for two weeks and even if we don't kidnap them all from the same place eventually it is going to be noticed. Give Julia my thanks for the suggestion for she is completely correct."

"I will," Patrick promised, "and she would have brought you the idea herself had she not felt as if it would be better coming from me then from her, since I have been around much longer than she has, although I never saw the problem until she mentioned it and then it was as clear as day."

"Out of the mouths of babes," Jasper said his tone completely serious although his eyes sparkled with humor, "and yes I know Julia is hardly a baby, but that expression is still accurate. Besides everybody in the world sees things differently than anybody else does and the fact that none of the family considered the problem and Julia saw what we did not just proves that point."

"One of the others of the family should've thought of it though long before Julia came into our lives," Patrick said.

"They should have," agreed Jasper, "but on the other hand everybody sees things differently as I said just a few moments ago and when you get used to something you don't really think about it or the consequences. In other words we've been doing this Christmas feast for a long while now and so we are in the habit of just gathering on Christmas and having us a human a day or like in the case of Quin two humans a day. When you've been in the habit of doing something for so long you don't often think about changing it, but since Julia is still relatively new to the family she was like an outsider looking in, or at she was where it concerned our Christmas feast, and therefore would have seen things from a different perspective."

Patrick thought about that and then nodded as what his dad had said made perfect sense as he knew very well that he had never thought about the fact that kidnapping so many human even if they were just bums and criminals would cause problem somewhere down the line and he was sure that none of his siblings had thought about it either.

"You're right," Patrick admitted. "From now on we need to try think of things like this as we are just lucky that Julia saw the problem so that we can correct it before we have trouble on our doorstep that we don't need."

"If anything I should've thought of it since I am the oldest of all of you including your mother," Jasper admitted looking shamefaced, "but it just never occurred to me and it definitely should have."

"Nobody is perfect," Patrick told his father. "Not even you, so try not to figuratively kick yourself to much for not having thought about it as none of the rest of the family did either or if they did they didn't mention their concerns."

Jasper laughed at that as he did tend to brood about what he considered his mistakes and his oldest son knew that very well and so was telling him not to brood too much as anybody could've made the same mistake and that nobody not even vampires were perfect.

"I won't," Jasper promised. "Bella has mostly broken me of that bad habit over the years, so I don't brood half as much as I used to before I met her."

"And that is a very good thing," Patrick told his father with a wink

"Yes, it is," Jasper agreed thinking affectionately of his mate whom he loved beyond all the heavens and luckily for him that love and affection was returned.

"Well, now that that is settled I think I'll go and find Julia and see if she wants to do anything since she is very pregnant at the moment."

"You do that," Jasper told his son with a wink knowing what his son was thinking without having to be told, which wasn't really very hard to do considering that all mated couples thought about having sex with their mate almost all the time.

"Love you, dad," Patrick told his father and would have been blushing if he could have since he knew very well that his dad knew exactly what he was thinking without even trying to hard. "Julia and I will see you sometime, although when I can't say."

"Don't rush on my account," Jasper told his son with another wink.

"Don't worry, we won't," Patrick promised rising from the chair he was sitting in and headed upstairs to find his mate not even having to look back to know that his father was smirking at his back.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

Two and a half months later Julia's water broke and Patrick, who was constantly at her side immediately her picked up and carried her up to their bedroom and gently laid her on the bed.

"I'll be right back, I've got to go get mom and dad," Patrick said turning to leave the room so that he could go get his parents who were in their bedroom on the floor below.

"Just yell for them," Julia suggested even as her first contraction hit and she grunted in pain, automatically pushing down. "They'll hear you."

"All right," Patrick agreed kicking himself for not having thought of that, but then they had been taught not to yell across a house, so that was likely why he hadn't thought of it. "Mom! Dad! Julia is in labor!"

It was less than a second later that Jasper and Bella appeared in the doorway of Patrick's bedroom and when they saw all that Julia was already pushing down they both sprang into action.

Bella for her part ran to the linen closet at vampire speed and brought out all the towels that she had bought in order to catch the babies as they emerged from Julia's womb and Jasper for his part headed at vampire speed down to the wine cellar in order to get a couple of humans for Julia to feed off of as she was going to need them.

"Push, love," Patrick urged his mate as calmly as he possibly could trying to hide his anxiety.

Julia did as she was told and it wasn't long at all before Bella was back with a whole big stack of white towels all folded neatly and one of them she put right under where the baby would emerge from Julia's birth canal and the others she stacked off to the side for when they were needed.

"It will be alright, son," Bella told her son. "I went through this and I came out just fine."

Patrick nodded but didn't respond verbally as he continued to watch his mate as the contractions got closer and closer together.

Suddenly Jasper was back with two humans who he dumped on one side of the room in crumpled heaps.

"Push, Julia, push!" Patrick urged his mate again as he closely watched as the head of one baby started to emerge from his wife's womb.

Julia did as she was told and kept pushing as hard as she could although she knew she was also getting exhausted and if the babies didn't get born soon she might not be able to birth them at all.

Suddenly Julia pushed again and firstborn just slipped out of her birth canal as once the head and shoulders were delivered the rest of the tiny little body followed. Patrick picked up the baby and looked to see what kind of equipment they had and then he announced, "Our firstborn is a son, love."

Patrick passed his tiny son to his mother who was responsible for giving his children their first baths as well as a bottle filled with artificial blood, after he used his teeth to cut through the umbilical cord since no mere knife was going to cut through thanks to a vampire's impenetrable skin.

"You need to feed, love?" asked Patrick even as Julia was hit with another contraction.

"Yes, I do," Julia said panting heavily from her last contraction. "Giving birth isn't exactly a picnic you know, it's hard work."

Julia cried out again in pain as she had been doing since she had gone into labor as another contraction hit her suddenly this one seeming even more painful than the last even though she knew that was impossible and that it was all just a matter of perception.

"Here," Patrick said as he went over to the other side of the room and picked up one of the unconscious humans that his father had thrown there just a few minutes ago and since Patrick knew that Julia preferred her meals awake and struggling he very kindly slapped the man awake for her, although normally Julia preferred to do that herself.

Patrick handed his mate the man he had slapped awake, and Julia grabbed hold of his arm and bit into his neck immediately even as he began to struggle trying his best to get away. Julia might have been weak from giving birth, but she was still a more than a match for a mere human so no matter how the man tried Julia wasn't particularly bothered.

"Ahh! That's much better," Julia sighed as soon as the blood was completely gone and the man was nothing but a body without a soul anymore.

Jasper took the body Julia had dropped to the floor without comment and simply propped him up against the wall of the hallway so he could be disposed of as soon as Julia was done giving birth to her children.

"Why don't you lot make yourselves useful," Jasper called down the stairs in a normal tone of voice knowing that the family waiting in the living room would be able to hear him as clearly as if he had shouted.

"What do you want us to do, dad?" Bryon answered from the living room.

"Why don't you go down to the wine cellar where we're keeping the prisoners and bring up a couple more humans would you please?" Jasper instructed.

Yes, sir," Scott said jumping up anxious to be doing something as he had never taken waiting very well, especially when he was worried about someone he loved deeply.

"Also one of you can come up here and take the corpse of this human that is propped up against the wall and dispose of him in the usual way," Jasper added after a moment.

"Yes, dad," Gavin called from where he too was waiting downstairs to hear how many nephews and nieces he had. If the truth be known most of the family was there and there was only five of Jasper's and Bella's children missing.

While Jasper had been giving his family instructions Patrick had continued to instruct Julia to push and another of their children had been born.

"It's another boy," Patrick crowed his voice so happy, that the entire family who could hear him downstairs, was surprised that Patrick wasn't dancing a little jig.

Patrick passed his second born son off to his mother and Bella again disappeared into the bathroom in order to give the baby boy his first bath and his first drink of blood.

Everybody in the birthing room watched as one by one the other three children of Patrick and Julia were born one right after the other.

"Now you need to push down one more time in order to deliver the placentas," Patrick instructed.

Julia did you she was told and it wasn't long before three different placentas presented themselves by sliding out of Julia's birth canal

"You did a marvelous job!" Patrick praised Julia sincerely as he too was awed at the miracle of birth and he now had five children to raise. "We now have three sons and two daughters to raise over the next 3 to 5 years."

"I'm looking forward to it," Julia said laying her head back on her pillow as she was totally exhausted, which should have been impossible since he was a vampire, but giving birth was hard work as she had told the others earlier.

Patrick handed Julia her fourth human he had slapped awake for her, this time a woman and Julia took her and ignored her begging for her life as she drained the woman dry.

"Ahh!" Julia sighed suddenly feeling much better as the fresh blood raced through her system renewing her energy and taking away her tiredness.

"Need another?" asked Patrick as he saw his wife's eyes going from completely black because she had lost so much of her venom giving birth to red again with the fresh intake of blood.

"Yes, please," Julia said politely.

"Your tiniest wish is my command, my love," Patrick said feeling very sappy at the moment, but then he figured he was entitled since his wife had just given him five children to love.

"We'll leave you two alone," Bella said holding one of her grandchildren in her arms lovingly kissing his tiny forehead and cheeks.

"We'll be downstairs shortly, as I don't want to be separated from my children any longer then absolutely necessary," Julia said, "but I need a shower, very badly."

"And these bed sheets need to be disposed of," Patrick added as he looked at the venom coated sheets knowing that they would never be completely clean again no matter how many times they were washed and it wasn't like they didn't have others that could be used.

"I'll do that," Bella volunteered, "while you and Julia are in the shower."

"Thanks, mom," Julia said gratefully knowing that she didn't want to worry about changing the sheets on her and Patrick's bed when she would rather be concentrating on her children.

"You're welcome," Bella told Julia with a radiant smile.

"I'll take the youngest downstairs, while you do that," Jasper volunteered, "as I know that there are a lot of anxious vampires who would like to take turns cuddling all of them, especially your brothers and sister Julia."

"That doesn't surprise me a bit," Julia admitted. "Henry, in particular, has wanted some nieces or nephews to spoil and now he has both. All my siblings ever wanted was for me to be happy and now that Patrick and I have our children I am way beyond happy."

"So am I," Patrick said leaning over and giving his youngest son a gentle kiss on the forehead before Bella handed the baby over to Jasper who took him downstairs.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~

"So, what are you going to name your three sons and two daughters?" asked Henry while cradling one of his nephew's in his arms.

"Well, Julia and I discussed that months ago," Patrick said. "We came up with a system and she was to name the boys, for the first name only, while I got to pick the middle and vice versa for the girls, but we both had to agree and couldn't name one of our children something that either one of us disliked or outright hated."

"I think that is a very sensible way to name your children," Bryon said sounding approving.

"So are you ever going to tell us what you decided on?" asked Alisa looking impatient.

"Of course, sis," Julia said with a smirk in her younger sister's direction. "Have a little patience."

"Sorry sis, I left my patience in my other pair of pants, get on with it," Alisa demanded.

"Alright, alright," Julia said rolling her eyes at her sister. "Patrick and I decided that for the firstborn son his name is going to be Darian Nolan Whitlock."

"Now that's an unusual name," Jason commented speaking for the first time since Patrick and Julia entered the den a few minutes ago.

"Not in this day and age it's not," Patrick told Julia's youngest brother.

"It's still a little uncommon," Julia admitted after a moment, "but it is used more frequently in this century then it was say a 100 years ago. You know how a lot of times how an unusual names in one century becomes popular in a different one."

"Anyway for the second born, which was also a boy," Patrick announced holding the now named Darian in his arms. Darian had the beginnings of red hair that was exactly the same shade as both Julia's and Henry's "we decided to name him Keith Brody."

"For the oldest girl who was one right after Keith, we decided on Dana Keisha," Julia added.

"And for the second girl we named her Moira Shayla," Patrick said.

"And for the youngest boy?" asked Bella who thought that Julia and Patrick had picked some pretty unusual names, which was all to the good as far as she was concerned because who wanted everyday names like Tom, Dick or Harry? And besides unusual or not they were still beautiful names.

"We decided on Keegan Terrence," Julia announced holding her oldest daughter to her breast softly running a hand through the soft brown fuzz the exact same shade as Patrick's hair.

"You know, I think Keegan," said Alisa examining her nephew critically from where she was holding him in her arms, "looks more like Patrick except for the fact that he has a beginnings of black hair, which does run in the Blackwoods side of the family.

"And so does Keith," said Scott who was holding his nephew in his arms, "you can practically tell he and Keegan are twins as they both have the black hair that runs in the Blackwood family and he also looks like Patrick."

"Not to mention black is the most dominant hair color, and sometimes it shows up even when both parents have either blond or red hair if it runs in either side of the family. Unlike red or blond hair it only has to have one gene in order to show up since it is dominant and not two," Bella said as she held Moira in her arms tenderly.

"Wow! Mom, how do you learn all this stuff?" Chloe exclaimed impressed in spite of herself.

"I learned a lot about that kind of thing, when I had all of you and as a vampire I never forget," Bella told her daughter.

"So who does Moria look like?" asked Trevor who hadn't spoken until now.

"Well, she has the beginning of brown hair like Patrick's and Dana's so the two are probably also twins."

"Not to mention both girls are starting to look like Julia in the face anyway," Bella said as she examined both her granddaughters closely, one of whom she was holding in her arms while the other was being held by her mother across the room and yet Bella had no trouble seeing the resemblance from what must have been fifty feet away as the den was quite enormous and made for large family gatherings

"Which only means that my daughters will be as beautiful as their mother," Patrick said sounding sappy again, but then again he was allowed since he now had five beautiful, healthy children.

"Actually I'm kind of surprised, that you didn't have at least one set of triplets," Henry commented. "Triplets run in our family after all."  
"Maybe when Patrick and I decide to have more children a few years down the road we'll get triplets," Julia said with a shrug not worrying about it.

"And only Darian got yours and Henry's red hair," Jason commented examining his nephew critically from where he was being held in his father's arms on the other side of the room.

"That's really not surprising," Julia said who had read all about which hair color was dominant and so forth just as Bella had a couple of centuries ago. "The gene for red hair is recessive and has to have 2 genes, one from each parent in order to turn that color and the likelihood of more than one of Patrick's and my children getting the genes for red hair is very unlikely, but then again anomalies have been known to happen."

"Don't I know it," Bella giggled. "Look at Rory and Rowan as good examples as Jasper and I had no idea where their red hair came from. I remember that my mother's hair was red, but Jasper isn't sure if he has any redheaded family members as recent as three or four generations back, but he must have or they never would have ended up with that color hair and neither would have several of our other children."

The aforementioned twin boys had heard all this before, numerous times, and so they weren't really paying any attention as their reddish brown hair had been discussed quite a bit amongst the family as had the red hair of several of their sisters and brothers.

"So there was three separate placentas, which means that Darian was probably a singleton, since he is the only one that got Julia's red hair," Jasper said as he had been listening to the conversation going on amongst his family, as he had always been a man of few words and so only joined in when he had something to say.

"And that means that Keegan and Keith are twins since they got the Blackwood family black hair and Dana and Moira are also twins since they got Patrick's brown hair.

"Not to mention both boys as well as both girls have similar features, so we'll have to watch them as I read somewhere that twins often pretend be each other just to trick the adults around them," Bella said. "Rowan and Rory used to do it a lot growing up."

"I remember, that time well," said Jasper looking nostalgic.

"So what did you and Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Peter do in order to tell your quadruplets apart until they did develop their own different personalities?" asked Patrick.

"Well," Bella said thinking back trying to remember. It was true that a vampire never totally forgot anything but that didn't mean that they could bring forth something that had happened a long time ago to mind in an instant. "Well, first we tried to go with what your Aunt Charlotte suggested and dress them in different colored clothes although they grew so fast that didn't really work very well as they kept ripping them to shreds every time they had a growth spurt. I believe that Jasper and I finally decided just to paint their backs with different colors that would come out easily every time they had a bath so the the spots of paint could be easily replaced. It wasn't something that either Jasper or I wanted to do, but we couldn't see any other way to be able to tell them apart until they started to develop their own distinct personalities, which didn't take very long at all."

Rory and Rowan laughed for they remembered those days well.

"We remember that," Rowan said laughing out loud and Rory nodded also laughing a little.

"What did you use to paint their backs with?" asked Julia thinking Bella's suggestion was sensible as it was about the only way to be able to tell her and Patrick's two sets of identical twins apart until they developed their own distinct personalities.

"Nothing dangerous for vampires anyway," Bella said pausing as she tried to remember the kind of pain they had used, "it was a lead based paint as Jasper and I knew that it wouldn't be dangerous to vampire children, and yet it was easily washed out when we gave them baths."

"We had to be careful that we gave Rory and Rowan baths separately and never together," Jasper remembered, "so that they didn't get mixed up."

"Of course, we always bathed several of our children at the same time as it made it at least a little faster," Bella remembered. "Yes even though Rory and Rowan couldn't take a bath together they did take them with some of their other siblings."

"It was just a good thing we had Paddy, Gabe and Trev, to help as I don't think we would have managed to handle so many children on our own even though we don't need to sleep."

"Yes, children are a lot of work," Julia commented. She had been silent for some time and was just cuddling one of her children to her breasts. "Luckily Patrick and I have all of you to help us, unlike mom and dad did so long ago."

"We'll be glad to help, sis or at least I will," Jason said.

"Yeah, me too," Scott said, "maybe Bryon and I will stick around for awhile so I can watch my nieces and nephews grow up," Scott added after looking at Bryon who nodded.

There were several more of the people in the room that volunteered to stay and help out including all of Julia's other siblings and several of Patrick's brothers and sisters as well.

"See, both of you have more help than you know what to do with," Bella told Patrick and Julia. "I sure wish we had this much help when Paddy, Trev, and Gabe were born."

"We did have Peter and Charlotte to help," Jasper reminded his wife.

"Well, yes, we did," Bella admitted, "and they were a big help too. It would've been a lot harder without them."

"Thank all of you for volunteering to help," Patrick said as he held one of his children. "I'm sure Julia and I will be taking advantage of your offer quite a bit."

"Hey your children as well as you and Julia are family, and family takes care of family," Henry said, "or at least that's the way it should be."

Henry for one had never understood his parents actions and to this day, thirty years later still didn't. Weren't you supposed to love something that had been created by you? That you had carried around in your body for nine months? Henry realized that humans had children everyday and abandoned them all the time for one reason or another. The lucky ones ended up in orphanages and the rest ended up on the street or died from neglect, but just because he knew that in his head didn't mean he really understood it and probably never would.

"I don't think our now long dead parents read the parents guidebook that says that they are supposed to love their children no matter what and not disown them," Alisa said sarcastically referring to the time that her oldest brother Scott had been disowned simply because he turned out to be gay and not straight.

"That just tells me that your parents didn't really love any of you at all," Patrick said. "Our parents wouldn't just abandon us if we did something that they didn't like."

"Of course not!" Bella exclaimed genuinely horrified.

"You see," Patrick said smiling smugly.

"Of course we wouldn't abandon you," Jasper said looking outraged at the mere prospect. "Most vampires were once human and humans make mistake and so do vampires since no sentient being is perfect. The humans who don't understand this concept are many, and the elder Blackwoods are perfect examples of two humans who didn't really understand love at all before they were killed. No offense meant," Jasper added for the benefit of all five of the former Blackwoods that were now Whitlocks that to the venom running in their veins.

"None taken," five voices answered while Henry added, "Actually I agree with you, our parents really didn't understand love at all. I realize that humans aren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but to disown their own son and then tell his brothers and sisters never to mention his name again is just something I'll never understand about why they did that. I mean it's not like they could make us forget that we had a brother in the first place."

"Or make us stop loving him," Julia added as she leaned over just enough to give Scott a kiss on the cheek as he was sitting on the floor right next to her with his back against the wall Bryon sitting beside him with his head on Scott's shoulder.

"I love you too, sis," Scott said with a grin up at his sister.

Suddenly one of the baby vampires began to cry and Bella raced into the kitchen where she and Jasper had mixed up a lot of that synthetic blood and then put it into baby bottles, refrigerating it until it was needed so that it would stay fresh a little longer. Bella opened the refrigerator door and began to get out five bottles as she was sure the other children would be crying for their own dinner in just a minute and as if I her thoughts were a signal the other four started crying as well and it had only been thirty seconds since one of them had started it all. We had better get them all fed, Bella thought as all five of the vampire babies were crying loud enough that if the house hadn't been out in the middle of nowhere they would have probably have had the police at their door.

"Here let me help you, mom," Patrick said as he took a couple of bottles and put them into the microwave so that they could be warmed up. "How long should I heat these for?"

"About 30 seconds should get the bottles warm enough that the blood won't be so thick and have it heated to a nice temperature besides," Bella told her son.

Patrick nodded and put the microwave to heat the two bottles for 30 seconds and once that was done he did two more until they were all done. "Now maybe we had better go feed the ravenous hoard before they bring down the roof with their crying," Patrick joked, although it was also pretty obvious that he wouldn't have it any other way.

Bella laughed and acknowledged that her grandchildren were extremely loud, although really they were no louder than any of her children when they'd started crying, because they were hungry.

"Well at least you have a lot of help to get them fed and in a shorter amount of time then we were able to do it when you and your two brothers," Bella told my son with the grin kissing his cheek. "It also helps that we have this new synthetic stuff that we can feed them instead of giving them live humans to drink from like we had to do with you and all of our children since the artificial hadn't been invented yet."

"I just hope it doesn't dull their hunting instincts," Patrick said looking worried.

"Don't worry your father has a plan," Bella told her son.

"What's the plan?" Patrick as the two of them walked from the kitchen and into the hallway that led to the den.

"Well, your father told me just the other day that, as soon as they get a little bigger and are able to walk on their own we're going to present them with a whole line of humans for them to feed off of and see if they're hunting instincts take over which they should," Bella said. "We should be able to try Jasper's idea in about two months."

Patrick nodded as all of them including his father were into new territory, as back when he and all his siblings had been born there had been no artificial blood to drink and having them drain a human had been the only way to get him and his siblings fed.

"Try not to worry," Bella told her son. "Jasper might not know what he's doing in this case, but I think his plan is a good one and I'm not just saying that because I happen to love him very much."

Patrick laughed at that and acknowledged that his mother had a point so he would try not to worry until he had to or may be it was better to say if he had to.

"It's feeding time!" Bella announced as she and Patrick carried the five bottles into the den for the ravenous bunch of crying baby vampires.

"It's about time," Scott said as he took one of the bottles from Patrick so that he could shove it into the ravenous mouth of his nephew who immediately went quiet as the baby vampire clamped down on the nipple of the bottle.

Patrick and Bella distributed the four other bottles to the various vampires in the room that were holding one of Julia's and Patrick children and almost instantly the crying had stopped as all five baby vampires sucked on their bottle of blood contently.

"Ahh, silence at last," Jason said who had been getting just as tired of the crying children as Scott had been.

"Don't worry, this stage won't last very long," Jasper told the room at large, although it was mostly said for the benefit of the Blackwoods, except for Julia who already knew everything there was to know about vampire babies. "In a couple of weeks at most they'll be out of this stage."

"I had better go get the milk bottles prepared, as they'll be ready for those after they finish the blood," Bella said rising to her feet again from where she had sat back down beside Jasper.

"Sit back down, Bella," Jasper told his wife, gently. "I'm sure our grandchildren will let us know what they need in order to not be hungry as that is the way it worked for all our children and that is not going to change with this batch," Jasper said. "If they hadn't accepted the bottles of blood we would've tried milk next, but since they did they probably won't need milk until next time they need to feed."

"You're right," Bella acknowledged as she remembered well how it had been trial and error for the first three children she and Jasper had had, but once they had figured it out it had been relatively easy with her other three batches of children after that.

"Is it just me or have my nieces and nephews already started to grow?" asked Alisa who was holding one of her nieces.

"They have," Patrick said as he examined one of his twin boys he was holding critically. "They've grown at least an inch in the last few hours since their births. Mom, didn't you weigh them and measure how big they were when they were first born?"

"Yes I did," Bella acknowledged, "and you're right they've grown at least in inch, which really isn't too surprising considering all of you did the same thing when you were this size. I think you'll find that they will grow quickly and in thee or four weeks they will be walking and talking as well."

"That's hard to actually imagine, despite the fact that I know what you say is true," Jason said. "I suppose it's so hard, because I've never actually seen it happen. It's just hard for me to imagine any baby growing so quickly that they'll be full-grown in just a year, especially when it takes a human 18 years to be considered an adult and we don't quit growing during that time."

"Well, brother, dear, you're about to get some first hand experience of how fast vampire babies can grow since you volunteered to stay around and help whenever you could," Julia told the youngest brother with a smile. "Once you've seen it happen it will not then not be outside your frame of reference."

Jason nodded, but didn't verbally acknowledge what his sister had said as he watched in wonder as all five baby vampire finished their bottles of blood in record time, which made him shake his head in amazement.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

Two months later, all five of Patrick and Julia's children had not only learned to walk, but talk and they looked about three instead of only two months old.

They had outgrown the baby bottles after a week and a half and were using those sippy cups with lids, but now Jasper had thought that it was time for them to start to hone their hunting instincts by presenting them with a line of humans and see if those instincts took over. If they did then all of the Whitlocks could quit worrying that the children drinking from bottles and then sippy cups instead of live humans since they had been born was not going to damage that. When Jasper's and Bella's 21 original children had been born there had been no artificial blood, as it had not been invented yet and therefore at the time it had been unnecessary to present them with live humans with a pulse in order to get them fed. They were into new territory now though since they had used baby bottles instead this was kind of an experiment on their part to make sure that Patrick's and Julia's children's instincts stayed sharp and had not been dulled by doing it this way.

"Dad! We have to do it this way? Can't we keep using the sippy cups?" asked Darian who was the oldest of Patrick's and Julia's children.

"Yes, we do have to do it this way," Patrick told him his son, "and no you can't keep using the sippy cups because they are for babies and you and your siblings are no longer babies."

"But dad, we're only two months old," Dana protested.

"Yes, that might be technically true," Patrick told all five of his children, "but you have to know that you are unusual because you're talking and walking and if you were human babies you wouldn't be doing either for a very long time. The world we live in is dangerous in the extreme and you must learn to let your instincts take control when you are hunting. Maybe we shouldn't have used that artificial blood when all of you were first born, but it just seemed easier. If it turns out that your instincts have been dulled in anyway we won't be trying it anymore in the future if your mother I do decide to have anymore children after this."

All five children hung their heads in shame at their father's even though Patrick had not gotten angry or even raised his voice.

"You can't keep drinking blood out of a sippy cup or even a glass," Julia told her children coming into the room. "You are vampires, and vampires hunt humans for their substance."

"Then why bother with the artificial blood at all?" asked Keith, curiously.

"Because, drinking the artificial stuff created by the humans stops our skin from glimmering in the sun so that we can go out at any time of day and not have to check the weather report to make sure it's going to be cloudy or rainy," Julia told them gently. "Also places like Egypt are now open to us which we would never able to go to the first place except at night because it's always sunny."

"Years ago, back when I was born, and mom and dad had me and my two bothers we always had to be careful to never go out in the sun because if the humans saw sparkling they would immediately be suspicious and if there's one ironclad rule it is that no human must ever find out about us," Patrick told his children calmly.

"Why not?" asked Moira looking confused, which neither Patrick or Julia could hardly blame her for since she was only two months old, even though she looked at least three.

The children were very intelligent it was true, but they were still only children and did not have the life experiences that helped one to mature.

"Well, to humans we are nothing more then myths or tales," Patrick calmly explained trying to find the words that his children would understand since they were still so young. "If humans did find out about us it would be much harder for us to live our lives and to hunt them for our meals, because they would be on their guards. They can't hurt or even get away from us since we are much faster and stronger then they are it's true, but if they did know and that we were real they might find a way too evidently kill us so it is better if we just remain a tale."

All five children absorbed that silently.

"This is just a test. It isn't life or death," Julia told her children surveying them with profound love in her eyes and her expression. "Nothing's going to happen if you fail, except that we will never use the bottles or the sippy cups again because it means that you didn't develop the killer instincts that are part of our kind's makeup. If you succeed however, I have a surprise for all of you."

"What's the surprise?" all five children immediately clambered excited.

"You'll just have to wait and see, my darlings, as it wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you, now would it?" Julia told her children with wink refusing to say anymore.

"Ah, mom!" all five of her children protested sotto voce.

"Don't you ah, mom, me," Julia told her children refusing to budge.

"You have to be willing to try new things, you can't always not do something just because you think you're going to fail," Patrick told his children with just a hint of sympathy in his tone.

"How are going to gain experiences in order to mature, so you can eventually get out on your own if you don't you want to even try this little experiment that your grandfather has set up for you?" Julia asked her children.

"Don't worry so much it will be just fine and I know you won't fail, but the only way you won't is if you don't set yourself up for it," Patrick added. "You have to believe he will succeed, because if you automatically believe that you're going to fail then it is more than likely that you will. All of you need to have confidence in yourselves and in your own abilities."

All five children looked each other seeming to communicate silently and then filed out of the room and downstairs without a word looking as if they were walking to their own executions instead of just outside.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

Jasper and several of the others in the house had indeed lined up ten humans all with shackles on their feet so that they couldn't run away.

All five children watched from the doorway for a moment and then reluctantly went outside in order to stand in front of the humans that were lined up. The five children stopped at where their grandfather indicated they should, which was more than fifty feet away. Jasper didn't want them to get to close at least right this minute. He was sure that the minute his grandchildren smelled the humans blood and heard their frantic, pounding heartbeats that at least half of them would be dead in no time at all.

"Now have your parents explained what I want you to do?" Jasper asked his grandchildren and watched as they all nodded their heads.

"I want all of you to approach the human slowly and once you get close enough your instincts should take over. It should be automatic, totally natural and you should really have to do anything at all," Jasper told them. He could feel their nervousness, insecurity, and uncertainty, which he could hardly blame them for. Jasper sent all five children boosts of confidence and they all stood up a little straighter. "Whenever you are ready," Jasper told them and they nodded looking more confident and determined.

Darian went first and his four siblings followed one right after the other and Jasper was amused to see that it was exactly the order in which they had been born with Darian first and then Keith, Dana, Moira and finally Keegan.

Once the five children were all within 15 feet suddenly all of them stiffened at the same time as they smelled the humans blood, and sweat and heard their frantic, scared heartbeats. That was all it took for all five children to run the last 15 feet and immediately jump up pulling five of the humans off their feet with their vampire strength not bothering to be gentle or try and catch the them as they fell since they would soon be dead very shortly anyway. Once the five humans were on the ground all five immediately went for their jugulars biting down almost at the same instant.

"Well it looks like our little experiment is a success," Bella said looking at her five grandchildren in satisfaction as she stood by Jasper's side with his arm around her waist.

"Yes, it does," Patrick as he came to stand beside his parents. "I know it would be if they just had confidence in themselves. If they had believed they were going to fail, then of course, they would have failed just because they had no confidence in their success."

"Now that they've actually drained a human and know that they do it, they should have no trouble doing it again and we can stop using the sippy cups entirely," Julia added that he came to stand beside her husband watching her children as they finished draining their first humans.

"They still need to drink that artificial blood at least once a week," Bella said.

"Yes that's true, but we should wait until they're a little bigger before we start doing that," Julia suggested. "Right now, they're so small that draining even one human will probably fill them up for at least a week. I suppose we could do alternate weeks: one week they feed off humans and the next they drink a glass full of that artificial blood."

"We should also make it clear to them that drinking that artificial blood at least once a week will open doors to opportunities for them that they otherwise wouldn't have," Patrick said. "Despite only being two months old, you all know that they are already way ahead of normal human children in their development, especially in brain power."

"Yeah, just like you and all your siblings," Jasper pointed out. "Their growing up at exactly the same rate as all of you did, which isn't really surprising."

Their conversation was interrupted when all five of the children came running up to them chattering excitedly.

"See did I not tell you could do it?" Julia told the children fondly as she gave each one of them a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Did I not tell you that your instincts would take over?" Patrick asked it as he picked each one up and swung them around causing them to laugh in glee. "I'm so proud of all of you."

"And so are your grandmother and I," Jasper told them letting his pride in them shine in his eyes.

"So are you all full?" asked Bella.

"Stuffed," Darian answered his four siblings nodding in agreement.

"I don't believe I could drink anything else for at least a month," Dana added.

All the older vampire laughed at that.

"Believe me in just a few days you'll be thirsty again," Julia told them.

All five children looked unbelieving, but Julia knew that in a week at most they would be very thirsty again and that would prove her point without trying to convince them when they had just overeaten by draining one human apiece.

"So how did it feel to drain your first humans?" asked Jasper.

"It was…." Moira said trying to come up with an appropriate word from her limited vocabulary. "Different? Amazing? Astounding?" Patrick suggested.

"I have no idea what those words mean, dad," Moira told her father. Patrick told her and she nodded absorbing the information much faster than a human child would. In fact at this stage a human child wouldn't even be crawling, much less walking or talking and quite clearly at that.

"It was all those things and more," Moira answered and the other four nodded.

"Drinking fake blood and the real thing is very different, like night and day," Darian added using the word different correctly for the very first time after just having it explained to his sister.

"So which do you prefer?" asked Julia.

"Well, I think the fake stuff tastes different, not much, but some," Keegan who had been quiet up until now said and the other four nodded in agreement.

"Thicker for one thing," Darian said

"You're right, it does taste a little different and is a little thicker," Jasper admitted. "It does the job though and stops us from sparkling in the sun so that the time of day is no longer a barrier to us, which is why it's a good idea to drink a thermos full once a week. If you stop drinking it you will eventually start sparkling again when you go out in the sun."

"I guess that means we're going to have to keep drinking the fake stuff once a week if we don't want the time of day to be a barrier to us," Keegan said making a face. "I think I love my blood real and fresh."

Keegan as well is the other four children sounded very grown-up when they talked like that, but as had been pointed out several times already they learned fast when they heard the adults talk they could repeat the words, understand what they meant without any trouble and then use them in sentences of their own.

"Believe me all of us feel the same," Patrick told his son who was so much like him that it was almost unreal. Keegan looked mostly like him to as did Keith, except for both boys black hair, which came from his wife's side of the family. Also his personality was so much like his that it was almost uncanny. Patrick had never liked the artificial blood either, although he knew it was necessary if he didn't want to sparkle in the sun. He had always preferred his blood fresh from a live and preferably struggling human. Sinking his teeth into a human's pulse point was practically like a drug and he always longed for more even when he felt so full that he felt as if he was going to pop from overeating if he did drink anymore.

"Well, from now on, you can have real blood," Bella told the five children who looked a lot happier with that announcement. "Once you are bigger you will have to start drinking that artificial stuff once a week, but you don't have to do that right now as it can wait until you are full grown. As you grow, your appetites will increase and you should be able to drink a thermos of that artificial blood once a week as well as draining a few humans without feeling overfull."

"That sounds great, grandma," Dana said looking grateful.

"Now why don't you kids go inside while we clean up the mess," Jasper suggested gently.

"What are you going to do with the ones we didn't drain?" asked Keith, curiously

"Oh, they'll just go back in the wine cellar until they're needed," Jasper told his grandchildren with a wicked smirk in the direction of the five humans who hadn't even tried to run away, because with the shackles on their legs they knew they wouldn't get far before they were caught and besides Jasper had warned them that if they tried to escape that he would make an example of them, by torturing them for at least a week before he finally had mercy on them and drained them dry. Jasper had learned from his time in the Southern Wars that sometimes threats did a whole lot of good for once he had threatened the shackled humans they had been too afraid to move from where they were standing until they were told to. They'd all rather be given a quick and relatively painless death instead of being tortured for a week or more. Jasper assured them that he knew of a multiple ways to torture somebody without killing them until he was ready and the humans had believed him as the way Jasper had said with a certain malicious satisfaction left them very little room for doubt that he could do what he said.

"What about the surprise that you promised us mom?" asked Keith.

"Go inside and I'll get it for you," Julia told them.

All five children nodded and disappeared in the house without a word.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

Five years later, Julia and Patrick decided that it was time to have their next batch of children since their first five were all grown up and out on their own and had been for the last two years. The five children of Patrick and Julia were still quite young, but all of them had been at one time and they'd never get any life experiences if they didn't mingle with humans since vampires as a rule were a pretty isolated species. They had all been taught how to control their bloodlust and how to act as human as possible. Julia had begged them to visit as often as possible as she would miss them while they were gone and they had faithfully promised to be there at least for Christmas which was in about three months time and by that time they would be able to meet their new brothers and sisters as they should be born sometime around then. All five of the young vampires were looking forward to having siblings to spoil and didn't seem to resent the fact at all that their parents wanted to have more children which in itself was astonishing considering how young they still were even if they were technically grown up, they still hadn't had those life experiences through which one matures. Sure they were intelligent and learned fast, but they were also still very, very young, and even though they were technically grown adults they were still babies in both vampire and human years.

Thanks to their parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts generosity all five of them had billions of dollars to their names just like everybody else in the family, so they could afford to travel anywhere they pleased although they intended to stay together, for now anyway.

"So ready to start our next batch of children?" Julia asked Patrick trying to contain her excitement.

Darian, Keith, Dana, Moira and Keegan had grown up way too fast on her, but then again she did understand that they weren't human children. Vampire children who just seemed to grow up really fast. She would of course worry about them when they weren't around, especially until they gained some experience in the human world. They were intelligent and knew quite a bit about the human world if only because they read a lot because and had probably read 5000 books each in the last five years since they could speed read though a book in about 10 seconds, absorb the information like sponges and once they learned something they never forgot it since like the rest of their kind they had eidetic memories. A lot of those books, that had been read were nonfiction and told how things worked in the world, but reading about life was not the same as experiencing it and so Julia would worry whenever her children went off to explore even if they called like they had promised they would.

"You bet," Patrick said just as excited. "So how many children do you think we should have? I meant altogether not just this time."

"I don't know," Julia said. "As much as I love children I don't know that I want anymore after this, at least not for awhile. I think after we have this batch and get them to where they can go off on their own we need some you and me time."

"I'm perfectly amiable to that," Patrick assured her. "Besides even if we don't have anymore children for 200 years it's not like you'll to get to old to get pregnant or to give birth safely, unlike humans who only have a certain number of years before they can't have anymore children. We don't have that restriction."

"Nor do we have to worry about defects like the humans do," Julia added.

"Exactly," Patrick agreed, "so shall we get started?"

"We shall," said Julia turning around so that her already naked back was facing him and allowing Patrick to put the Necklace of Artemis that they had borrowed from their parents around her slender, delicate neck and close the clasp.

When Bella had learned that Patrick and Julia were ready to have more children she had been ecstatic and had hugged both her son and daughter so hard that if they hadn't been vampires they would have ended up with cracked ribs at the very least.

Bella had been so excited as she truly did love children unlike a lot of people who just had them to carry on the family name, but not because they really loved playing with them, holding them, feeding them, comforting them when they cried and things like that.

Patrick pulled Julia down on top of him and told her, "I want you to ride my cock." His cock was already standing at attention tall and proud and leaking semen and venom in a steady stream just from looking at his mate's sexy, gorgeous, delectable body as neither one if them had even done anything yet. Of course it didn't take much to make either of them want the other as sometimes just a touch of a hand on an arm or a certain kind of look would do it.

"I'll be perfectly happy to do that," Julia told him giving him a long passionate kiss. Julia had done this lots of times before in the last 35 or so years as Patrick had demanded that she ride his cock she could hardly refuse him and besides after she had first tried it she had enjoyed it just as much as he did, so she slid herself slowly down over his cock and then started moving faster and faster up-and-down using her legs to support her until she was moving so fast she was nothing but a blur. At this speed it didn't take very long at all for either of them to come or for Patrick to shoot his seed into his mate's pussy.

"Wow! Every time you do that just keeps getting better and better," Patrick told Julia sincerely as soon as he was sure he could speak.

Julia nodded not speaking having collapsed on top of Patrick's chest just laying there completely sated.

"I wonder why that is?" Patrick said almost to himself. "Every time we make love or have sex it just keeps getting more spectacular until if it get any better than what both of us have experienced over the last 35 years I might not be able to survive."

The last was said feebly, as a joke and Julia laughed weakly still recovering even though all she had done was ridden his cock like it was bucking bronco and it wasn't like she hadn't done it before, lots of times. Patrick was right though every time they made love they just kept getting better and better and Julia sometimes wondered why that was too. Of course they also had a lot of practice so maybe that had something to do with it, although Julia was aware that it couldn't be the whole answer.

"I love it when you ride my cock like that," Patrick said and he would have been blushing if he had been able to.

"I know it," Julia said lifting her head to looking to his eyes immediately being able to tell that Patrick was embarrassed as she knew all the signs well as they had been married for thirty years and mated for five years before that after all, "and I love doing it for you as I get as much pleasure out of it is you do. You don't ever have to be embarrassed about telling me anything, but I still find it very adorable that you do even though we've been married for 30 years and mated for 35."

"It has to do with the way I was raised," Patrick explained and Julia listened attentively to what her husband was telling her as he had never explained this to her, although she could have guessed if she had really thought about it as in 1950 things had been very different than they were when she born. Even after 35 years of being mated, 30 of that as a married couple, both of them were still learning new things about each other almost on a daily basis and probably would be for sometime to come, which was one of the things that Julia really loved about being married for she and Patrick were just like any other married couple human or not in that particular area.

"I was born in the 1950s and times were different back then. It's true that my parents taught me and my siblings to be open minded, so it's not really their fault that I don't like to talk about certain things, it's more that I was a product of the 50s and those kind of things just weren't talked about openly back then and especially not with a woman, even if that woman was your wife."

"Why are you so different from your parents in that particular area?" asked Julia curiously.

"Well, my mother doesn't really remember much about her human life and even if she did she was kind of a rebel, you know acting more like a boy then a girl, climbing trees, reading things that were considered inappropriate for a lady of any breeding to know, playing in the dirt and getting her dresses dirty that kind of thing, which was really looked down on back in the early 1900s. As for my father you know that he has been through experiences that changed him both when he was human and when he was turned into a vampire and it helped that his parents were pretty liberal for the late 1800s anyway. When he was part of the Southern Wars he saw immediately after he was turned how a woman could take charge—even if that woman was slightly insane—and that's probably at least partly why he believes in equality between man and woman and that goes double for ones mate and also why he is able to talk about almost anything with my mother."

"So you believe that if dad hadn't been changed by a woman and hadn't had to obey her for all those decades that his attitude would be different towards woman?"

"Maybe, I don't know for sure," Patrick said. "I have a feeling that he would have basically the same attitude," Patrick admitted with a shrug. "Besides my mother never would have taken to not being treated like an equal and she's had a couple of centuries to work on my dad's rough edges, not that he had very many to begin with or at least not where his mate was concerned. From what dad remembers of his past his parents always treated each other as equals and so of course they taught that to their son and it stayed with him after he became a vampire."

"We'll have to work on your attitude," Julia told him. "I don't want you to ever be embarrassed to tell me anything since I've always done the same with you no matter how in embarrassed it makes me."

"I'll try," Patrick promised. "I don't hardly keep anything from you anyway, no matter how much it embarrasses me to tell you certain things, because I don't want any secrets between us."

"Good," Julia said looking pleased. "You're not supposed to have any secrets in a marriage as it can ruin it if you aren't careful or at least it does for humans who aren't soulmates like we are. Keeping a secret can a lot of times end in divorce and I'm not talking about when you're trying to surprise someone with a gift or something kind of secret, but the serious kind."

"Thank you for being so understanding," Patrick told kissing all over her face.

"Hey, I love you, so no thanks necessary," Julia told him, "and when you really love someone you don't get mad at them over something stupid like this. I'm sure I probably still would've been furious if we hadn't been mated for so long. Also, the mate bond we share has something to do with it to I'm sure. If I didn't know you so well inside and out then I suppose it is possible that keeping secrets would wreck our marriage like it does for so many humans. Everybody is different, both humans and vampires and all couples are bound to clash occasionally like we have sometimes for the last 35 years as even vampires can't get along all the time, not even mated couples who love each other with every ounce of their souls."

"That is so beautiful," Patrick told her sincerely the awe in his words making Julia lower her head in embarrassment.

"It's true though," Julia said.

"Yes, it's very true," Patrick told her, agreeing completely, "but now I'm going to make love to you nice and slow and not just fuck you senseless like we do a lot of times, just because I love you so much I want to show you how I feel about you and what your words mean to me."

"You're very welcome to do that," Julia assured him kissing him very passionately causing Patrick to groan with desire twisting his hands into his mate's beautiful red hair to give himself some leverage.

Julia giggled at his reaction and continued to kiss him all over his face, before moving down to his neck where she kissed and licked Patrick's mating mark, the one she had given him when they had first completed the bond just after she had become a vampire.

Julia continued what she was doing and soon Patrick flipped her over and dove himself into her pussy having a burning desire to be inside his mate once more and all his good intentions of making slow and gentle love to his wife going out the window at least for the moment.

And that was how they spent the next few hours playfully making love and talking about all kinds of subjects in between.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

A month later, Julia was very pregnant, but she still had a long way to go before she could deliver her children into this world.

"So, we need to start discussing names for our children," Patrick said as he lay beside his wife on their bed.

"Yes, we do," Julia agreed. "So what are your suggestions?"

"Well, I've always liked the name Galen," Patrick said.

"That's a good one," Julia agreed, "so if we have a son, which I suspect we will, we'll name him Galen."

"I suspect we'll have more than one son as big as your belly is," Patrick told his mate as he rubbed her tummy and felt one of the babies kick.

Julia was absolutely enormous, although she carried it well because she was so tall and also because her body was just shaped right for making babies, which made it a little easier to carry a pregnancy and give birth when the time came.

"Yes, you're right," Julia agreed. "Anyway, what other names do you like?"

"Well, I've always liked the name Griffin, it means reddish you know."

"Okay, it's an unusual name but I have no objections," Julia said. "Anything else?"

"Well for a girl's name I've always liked Marilyn, Clarissa and Minerva."

"Those are very pretty names," Julia agreed. "As for me I've always liked the boys names Albert, Lance and Corey and girls names, Holly, Abigail and Madison, although I realize that Madison can be used as a boys name and Corey as a girls."

"I like all of those," Patrick decided after trying each one of them out in his mind with the last name of Whitlock and decided he liked all of them a lot.

"Also I've always liked the names Marco and Connor," Julia added after a moment. "I always thought that Marco and Lance in particular were unusual names, but not so unusual that they would be picked on to badly when they were school age."

Patrick nodded again liking all three names a lot.

"As for more girls names I like, Ziva, Anna, or Sophie," Julia added after a moment of thinking about what girls names she truly liked. Besides it shouldn't be so hard to pick out names for their children as there were thousands of very beautiful names in the world, but of course on the other side of the coin their was also a lot of really ugly ones as well, although she knew very well that different people had different ideas on what was good baby names for their children as her opinion didn't necessarily match other peoples.

The two of them started throwing suggestions back-and-forth until they had quite a few both boys and girls names, as they thought it was better to have to many than to have to few and they could always save the extra names for when they had more children sometime in the future.

They both fell silent for awhile and then Patrick said, "You know there are a few names I really hate and I will never name any of my children that nor will I allow you too."

"What are those names you hate?" asked Julia curiously not at all upset at Paddy's words for there were certain names she hated too that she definitely would never name her children not allow Patrick too, "just so I know for future reference so I don't come up with them sometime."

"Well, you know one of them," Patrick said teasingly.

"I do?" asked Julia briefly confused and then her expression cleared, "Oh, you mean Agnes."

The name was said with such disgust that Patrick had to cover a laugh with a cough. What they had discovered about Agnes had made them happy because it turned out that her life was indeed falling apart even more now that she had been thrown permanently out the La Java nightclub and Julia and Patrick figured it wouldn't be long before she was out on the street as she had lost her job and even the very poor and rundown apartment she rented cost a lot of money as it had been Paris after all and things were more expensive there, then in other places. One of the things that really pleased them was the fact that they had seen the man that owned the apartment house eyeing her and it turned out that, once the two Whitlocks had watched him for awhile, that the man had a very lucrative sideline of either enticing pretty woman into whoring, so that he could make even more money or he kidnapped them, so long as he knew they wouldn't be missed by anybody the owner of the apartment house forced them into life of a prostitute whether that was what they wanted or not. So long as Agnes had the protection of her father's friend the man hadn't messed with her, but the minute she had lost it through her own actions she was fair game.

Agnes had really been a very beautiful girl or at least she had been 30 years ago, which was really a requirement for a whore if she wanted any customers that is. Both Whitlocks figured it probably hadn't taken long before Agnes gave in and went into the life of a prostitute willingly. Well, that or she was forced to by the man that owned her apartment building. For all they knew Agnes could still be very much alive forced to have sex again and again with total strangers and what would make it even worse was that she would be forced to give at least most of money to her pimp or she could very well be dead not that either path bothered the two Whitlocks at all. Revenge was sweet as the saying went.

Julia glared to him and then gave in and laughed heartily Patrick following a second later.

"So what other names do you hate?" asked Julia as soon as she could quit laughing.

"Well, Mildred, Betsy, Angus, Hilda and Bertha are the ones I really dislike."

"Any boys names, besides Angus that is?" asked Julia.

Patrick thought about it for a moment then said, "Well, Archibald, Rueben, Ashton, Preston and Wyatt."

"Why do you dislike those particular names?" asked Julia curiously.

"Too pretentious," Patrick immediately answered, "and to be honest just very ugly, to me anyway."

Julia had to admit that most of them were either very pretentious or very high and mighty sounding like Archibald, although Archie wasn't too bad, Julia thought. "Archie isn't to bad, although you are right about Archibald being pretentious."

"No, Archie isn't to bad and it can be used as an individual name," Patrick agreed after a moment of saying in in his mind with the name Whitlock. "So what other names do you dislike, besides Agnes that is?" Patrick asked with a chuckle at Julia's very sour expression at the mere mention of Agnes's name, even though it had been thirty years since either of them had really even thought of her.

"Well, Jack for very obvious reasons. You know why I dislike that name," Julia answered.

Patrick did understand Julia's hatred of the name as it had to do with her former boyfriend, who's name had been Jack, when she had been human and who had abandoned the second that he learned that she had leukemia instead of trying to work out.

"Also, Victor, Chad, Maisie, Zara, Margret, Margery, and Matilda. Oh and names flower names like Petunia and Marigold, although Rose is very pretty, but that is the one and only exception."

Patrick nodded as he had never been very fond of people who used flower names as he had never thought about the fact that a lot of humans named their children after plants and why they did Patrick didn't have a clue. He supposed names like Lily, Marigold, and Petunia were okay for some people, but now that Julia had pointed it out there was no way he would name any of his girl children after flowers, except perhaps Rose since it was very pretty, although Patrick supposed they could use another version of the name, like Rosa or Rosalind. There were plenty of very pretty first names in the world so why use flowers as names?

"Alright," Patrick agreed after a moment, "if you think of any others you don't like let me know and I'll do the same, but now I have other plans for us and they don't include discussing baby names anymore since we've already done that."

Julia snickered and allowed Patrick to jump her not bothering to protest since she quite agreed that they had discussed baby names enough for the moment and now it was time for some loving for both of them.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

A month and a half later it just a few days before Christmas Eve and Julia felt about as big as a whale and as much as she enjoyed being pregnant she thought she was ugly, with her big fat belly, although Patrick kept assuring her that she was still beautiful to him. Not to mention she was damned tired of being confined to this bed and being hungry and thirsty all the time. Julia's stomach this time was far bigger than it had been when she had the other five children and everybody knew that she was having at least six or seven which really wasn't beyond the the realm of possibility since Bella had had eight during one her of pregnancies and she was much shorter and slimmer than Julia was. It wasn't that Julia was fat, far from it, her body was just shaped differently that's all and there was nothing wrong with that. One thing was that Julia had wider hips then Bella's, perfect for giving birth, which would mean if she was human that she would have no trouble getting the baby out of her womb as wider hips meant it would be much easier then to eject babies, not that it still wasn't hard work. Julia was also about six inches taller than Bella, which had a lot to do with it as well.

"I'm more than ready, for these children to be born," Julia told Patrick as the two of them longed on the bed, which they had managed so far not to destroy, although it was made of wood and not metal like the one in Houston. "I'm tired of being stuck in this bed for one thing and as much as I enjoy your company I'm more than ready to be able to move and get out and about. I hate inactivity and staying in bed is driving me crazy. Besides I'm damned tired of being thirsty and hungry all the time."

"I can hardly blame you for that," Patrick said. "I know very well that being pregnant and giving birth even for a vampire is a difficult process. I have watched my mother give birth three times after all and I saw how she struggled each time."

"Actually it's a lot easier for us then it would be for a human," Julia told Patrick. "I'm not sure you're aware of this, but when a human woman is pregnant, when they give birth especially, they can't get out of bed right afterwards. Being in labor and having children is a long, painful, tiring and torturous process and there are plenty of things that can go wrong. After giving birth the mother needs plenty of rest and even if they manage to make it through the entire process a lot of times they die in childbirth or the baby is stillborn. That doesn't happen very often anymore, as medical science has advanced enough that is now a rare event unless there is something wrong with the mother in the first place like a weak heart or an aneurysm in her brain, which can burst at anytime."

"So you're saying that because you're vampire you had an easier time then a human woman having our first five children and will have an easier time this time as well," Patrick said.

"Yes, actually, for one thing so long as I have plenty of real fresh blood, as you know, I'll be able to get up and out of bed as soon as I finish giving birth and also I am unlikely to die during the process like a human woman can since as a vampire not much can permanently kill me except fire."

"Don't say things like that," Patrick said with a real shudder as if something had just crawled over his skin. "The last thing we need is to jinx the process and besides the thought of you dying scares the holy crap out of me."

"Shh! It'll be alright," Julia told him soothingly "I'm not going to die giving birth."

"You won't, because I won't allow it," Patrick said very vehemently.

"Well, if I had known you were going to react so strongly, I never would've told you a few facts about childbirth," Julia said very seriously trying to keep her lips from twitching as she knew that Patrick was genuinely terrified of losing her and she couldn't really blame him for that since she was also terrified of losing him as well.

Patrick held her close to him for a long time with his face buried in her neck, breathing in her scent trying to calm himself down. When he finally lifted his head his eyes, which had gone to black when he was feeling such strong emotions surging through were back to being red.

"I'm sorry, I know I overreacted, but the thought of losing you no matter the reason scares the shit out of me," Patrick apologized.

"Shh! There's no need to apologize to me as I understand very well that sometimes we can't control our emotions. To tell you the truth the thought of me losing you scares the holy crap out of me too, even though I am well aware that we are almost indestructible and impossible to kill by ordinary means."

Patrick laughed shakily at that for even though he was much calmer, his emotions were still a little out-of-control, so he tried not to think about the fact that Julia could die in childbirth or at least be so injured that it would be impossible to fix even with all the blood in the world. If that was the case the family would have to burn both their bodies for there was no way in hell he could survive without his mate and if the truth be known he wouldn't want too.

"Don't worry I'm not going anywhere," Julia assured him hugging him close a placing multiple kisses all over his face and chest causing Patrick to become instantly aroused. "I'm sure we'll always have those fears, but so long as we talk about them and don't let them control us we'll be alright."

"Talking does help," Patrick admitted. "I probably should've told you before, but it was really only a vague worry until you mentioned how woman died in childbirth all the time."

Julia looked contrite at his words and Patrick pulled her as close to him as she could get thanks to my belly getting in the way.

"Hey, don't be upset, how were you supposed to know that saying something like that would upset me?" asked Patrick giving Julia a kiss on the nose.

"I should've known," Julia protested.

"No, you shouldn't have," Patrick said as he held his wife in his arms tenderly. "I've been keeping this to myself and while we know each other very well after almost 36 years of marriage, we still have a lot we don't know about each other's hopes, fears, dreams and desires. How could you know when I have never said anything?"

Julia nodded conceding the point as she couldn't read his mind, although she was very good at still knowing what he was thinking, most of the time anyway, but again that came because of the fact that they had been married for almost 36 years.

Suddenly Julia thoughts were interrupted as she felt several of the babies kick in several different spots and then the mattress between her legs was very wet.

"Ah, Patrick, you had better call for some help as my water just broke." Why either Bella or her hadn't changed the name for that part of the process of giving birth considering that it was venom and blood not water since she was a vampire, Julia had no idea but she had never bothered to change it since everybody knew what she meant anyway.

Patrick looked scared for a moment and then moved off the bed to come stand beside her while yelling, "Mom! Dad! It's time!"

It was barely five seconds later that Jasper and Bella were there with all their children that were home crowding them from behind trying to see what was happening.

"Everybody, but Scott and Bryon, go back downstairs," Jasper barked and every single one of Patrick's siblings obeyed looking sheepish. "Bryon, Scotty, you know what to do," Jasper added more calmly to his two sons.

Bryon and Scott nodded and headed back downstairs and to the kitchen so they could go down to the wine cellar to collect four humans for Julia to feed off during her labor as it helped to keep the energy replenished and made the labor a little easier, plus healed any injuries from the birth.

Bryon and Scott had been assigned the task of doing this, mainly because it Scott gave something to do so that he wouldn't pace in the den worrying about his sister.

It wasn't that the rest of the vampires in the house weren't worried, but they also had other ways to distract themselves while Scott was very hard to distract when somebody he cared about was in pain or danger and doing something useful, that needed doing, helped.

Bella came back into the room with a stack of thick towels and placed one in between Julia's legs very calmly as she was an old hand at this now.

"Push!" Patrick urged his mate as calmly as possible, "Push!"

Julia did that she was bid just as another huge contraction hit her. It had only been about five minutes since her water had broken, but her contractions were already just two minutes apart, which meant that the babies were not about to take their sweet time like Julia's first children had.

"You can do it, love! I have faith in you! Push!" Patrick continued to urge.

Suddenly Julia gave one last hard push and the first baby emerged from Julia's birth canal. Bella who had been standing at the end of the bed caught the baby as it emerged from Julia's body and Patrick bit through the umbilical cord with his very sharp fangs.

"It's a boy!" Bella announced proudly cradling the baby for just a second before disappearing into the bathroom in order to give the newborn his first bath since he was coated with venom and blood.

The newborn baby vampire was wailing his head off and not because he was coated with blood and venom but because he was so hungry and his little throat was burning. Bella finished cleaning off her new grandson in record time and then hurried downstairs to the kitchen in order to give her grandson his first bottle of artificial blood that had already been heated up by a member of the family.

The baby vampire stopped wailing immediately as soon as Bella had put the nipple of the bottle into his mouth and he began to suck on it like there was nothing else more important then getting himself fed and to a hungry baby, whether or not that baby was a vampire there wasn't.

"Here, I'll take him," Alisa offered holding out her arms for her nephew.

"Thanks, I need to get back upstairs as I don't want to miss anything, Besides they need my help," Bella said handing off her new grandson to his aunt gratefully.

Bella hurried back upstairs and was there in just a few seconds. Bella wasn't too worried about not being there to catch the next the baby that emerged from the daughter-in-law's womb since Jasper knew what he was doing and was a good stand in as he had helped her to give birth to all their children, during her four different pregnancies after all.

As she entered the room Jasper immediately handed her another boy that had been born while she was gone and Bella gently took her wailing grandson and headed into the bathroom immediately to give him his first bath. Once that was done she headed downstairs and handed the baby off to his Uncle Henry this time since he was waiting to take him at the bottom of the stairs.  
"Why don't you go back upstairs?" Henry suggested. "I'll make sure he gets fed."

Bella nodded and headed immediately back upstairs grateful that she wouldn't have to take the time to get her grandson fed as much as she loved him and his brother already, but she was anxious to see if it was a boy or girl that emerged from Julia's womb this time. Actually she was hoping that Julia had at least one girl as she was looking forward to having another granddaughter to spoil rotten. Besides the odds were astronomical that as big is Julia was that she would have all boys as she must be carrying at least 7 or 8 babies.

Bella reentered her son's and daughter-in-law's room and immediately stood right beside Jasper at the end of the bed as Julia had not yet given birth to another child.

"You're just in time, I can see another head crowning," Jasper said calmly as he watched his daughter-in-law intently as she pushed down as hard as she could at Patrick's urging. It didn't take more than another couple of minutes for another baby to a emerge from Julia's womb and it turned out to be yet another boy the third so far, when Bella moved in order to catch the baby as it slid out of Julia's birth canal.

"It's another boy!" Bella exclaimed secretly a little disappointed that Julia had not yet had another girl and she privately admitted to herself that the daughter-in-law might not, even though the odds were astronomical that it would be all boys, but odds or not it had been known to happen.

Bella headed into the bathroom and let Jasper take over as she gave her grandson his first bath as he wailed for his dinner. Once Bella had handed over the little boy to Jason this time she immediately headed back upstairs in order to be present for the next baby to be born.

"More blood, love?" asked Patrick presenting his wife with yet another struggling human to feed off and this was the third so far as she really needed to fresh blood after every child was born in order to keep up her strength.

"Yes, thanks," and Julia said just as another contraction hit in which she automatically pushed down. Once the contraction had passed Julia took the struggling man from her husband and bit down on his throat without pausing or listening to his pleas for mercy.

Once the man was dead, every single drop of blood wrung from him, Patrick took the corpse from his wife and dropped it in a corner with the other two not caring about the man's dignity as he was dead anyway and had been an absolute leech on the face of society when he was alive, not even bothering to put them out in the hallway for one of the family to take care of since he didn't want to leave the room even for a few seconds.

Another contraction hit and Patrick was immediately back at his wife's side urging her to push, which Julia obeyed and that was all it took for her fourth son to be born.

"Another son!" Bella exclaimed taking him into the bathroom to give the boy his first bath before taking him downstairs and put him into the waiting arms of his oldest brother Darian before immediately heading back upstairs. When she got there, she saw that Jasper had taken the time to take the three corpses and put them out in the hallway as they had been beginning to pile up and there was only so much room. Patrick and Julia's bedroom was large, but not that large and they needed room to be able to move around since they still had at least a couple of babies to go, although Bella was guessing from how large Julia's stomach still was that there was at least three more babies that had yet to be born and possibly four.

Julia bit down on the neck of another human draining the female who was wearing nothing but rags. Bryon and Scott dropped off the last batch of four without a word and quietly took the three corpses from the hallway and carried them down the stairs to the basement, which was separate from the wine cellar and threw all three bodies into the incinerator that was down there along with several industrial sized washers and dryers, for if they didn't have several that size they'd never get all the clothes washed with the family being so large, even if they didn't all get together at the same time anymore.

"You can do it!" Patrick praised his mate as Julia was doing so well and they only had a little bit to go as he had four new sons already.

Another contraction hit and Julia pushed down just as she had been doing, but there seemed to be a problem as the baby kept slipping back inside her birth canal.

Jasper, who had been watching closely immediately noticed and said, "Stand aside everyone I think that the umbilical cord might be twisted around the baby. I read about this, in some of those medical books that we have bought over the years and it happens often in human pregnancies so I'm going to try to get the cord untwisted."

Everyone did as ordered because when Jasper used that stern tone of voice he was serious and the baby in the meantime had slipped out several times already but went right back in into the birth canal refusing to be delivered.

Jasper very gently put a hand into his daughter-in-law's birth canal and gently felt around for the umbilical cord that he knew was there. What he discovered however was a foot instead of a head and so he did his best to turn the baby so that the head would be facing downwards as they did not have the equipment to do a C-section, nor could you do one on a vampire so Jasper desperately hoped this worked and that all his reading would pay off.

Julia screamed a couple of times but finally Jasper managed to turn the baby and as he did the umbilical cord, which had been twisted around the baby's foot came loose and the baby was delivered all in the space of just a few seconds and Bella just barely caught the little boy in time before he shot off the bed completely and hit the floor even with vampire speed. Bella cradled her precious grandson and knew that it hadn't been for Jasper's cool head and knowing what to do that she could have not only lost her baby grandson, but the rest of her unborn grandchildren and her daughter-in-law and son as well. She would definitely have to find a way to thank her mate even though she knew that Jasper loved Julia and all his children and grandchildren quite furiously and wouldn't let anything happen to any of them or her if he could do anything to prevent it.

Patrick shot his father grateful look as not only had Jasper saved his son but his wife, that Jasper would have blushed if he could have.

"It's all right," Jasper said in a soft voice. "I love her too. You know I would never let anything happen to a member of my family if I could prevent it."

Patrick nodded, but he knew that he would never be able to repay his father for what he had done for he had truly feared for a few minutes that he would lose the rest of his unborn children and his wife as well, not that he would have lived long if anything had happened to his mate.

Patrick knew from this moment on that he would fear having anymore children, although he also knew he would have little say in the matter if Julia decided that she wanted more somewhere down the line even if that was 500 years from now.

"Push! Love, push!" Patrick urged again holding her hand just like he had been doing for the last five or so grueling hours trying to put his fears aside for the moment in order to help his mate give birth to the rest of their children.

The sixth child was delivered just then, but without the problems that had come with the one before him and the baby boy was able to easily slide out of Julia's slick birth canal, leaving plenty of time for Bella to catch him as he didn't shoot out of his mother's body like his brother had, but slid out gently, almost in slow motion. Patrick bit through the umbilical cord just like he had for the other five and handed his son to his mother who immediately headed into the bathroom to give the newly born boy his first bath. She returned less than five minutes later to discover that another of the infants was already out of Julia's birth canal and the last baby's head was crowning even as Bella took her seventh grandson from Jasper's arms.

The seventh and eighth baby boys had came almost together and were delivered all within just three minutes of each other.

Julia laid back on my pillow panting and Patrick brought over the two humans that she had not had a chance to drain as yet and slapped them awake for her.

"Here you go, love," Patrick said passing a big beefy man that had plenty of flesh on his body, which also meant that he had a lot of blood to drain as well. Julia took the man gripping him by the neck and lifting him off his feet with ease, despite how weak she felt from giving birth.

Once the big man was dead Julia dropped him to the floor beside the bed not really caring that she had just killed another human being and Patrick handed her the other one without comment.

"Feel better?" asked Patrick as soon as Julia had finished draining in the woman a few minutes later.

"Like my old self," Julia assured him as she could feel her insides which had been ripped from the birth healing from all the fresh blood. One of the great things about being a vampire was even if you somehow got internal injuries so long as you had plenty of blood they would heal and you would be just fine. "I sure could use a shower though."

"Well, why don't you and me take one, right quick," Patrick suggested, "and then we need to go downstairs and tell the family what names we gave our eight children."

Julia nodded and rose from the bed with her usual grace and Patrick watched her carefully not offering to help, because he knew that his mate was very touchy about being able to do things on her own, which he could hardly blame her for since she hadn't been able to walk on her own for several months before her change thanks to her leukemia when she had been human.

When Julia made it to the bathroom walking with her usual grace, with no trouble Patrick breathed a lot easier knowing that meant that she really was okay and he then thanked every god he knew about that he had not lost his wife or any of his children during childbirth.

If he had lost any of them, especially his mate it would have literally killed him no question about it.

"You going join me or not?" Julia questioned already naked from the bathroom doorway and Patrick nodded using vampire speed to get to the bathroom on the other side of the room from where he was standing.

"You can quit worrying about me, I'm fine," Julia told him knowing exactly what Patrick was thinking, but then she knew him to well, Patrick thought ruefully.

"I'll never quit worrying about you, whether you're pregnant or not," Patrick told her truthfully, "just as I know you worry about me and Julia you have no idea the surge of fear that went thought me when I thought I was going to lose you, not to mention our unborn children. Yes, everything turned out okay, but it doesn't stop me from imagining all kinds of things that could have happened as even for a vampire giving birth comes with its own pitfalls. If dad hadn't been there... If he hadn't read so many medical books and known what to do I would've been totally at a loss. We were extremely lucky that it was something minor that could be fixed without having to do a c-section because you can't do that to a vampire and I definitely would have lost you then, which would have killed me."

"Shh! I'm okay," Julia whispered to him coming to stand in front of him putting her hand on his cheek so that he could feel her skin against his. "I love you," Julia told him very sincerely giving him a long passionate kiss that by the time they broke apart it was five minutes later.

"I love you too," Patrick assured her taking his wife into his arms as just feeling of her body against his made some of his worries fade away. "Just promise me no more children, for at least the next 50 years. Maybe by then my heart will finally heal from you scaring me so badly."

"Alright," Julia gave in with good grace. "I was planning to take a sabbatical from having children anyway for the next 20 or 30 years as I want to spend more time with you and the children I do have."

"Thank you," Patrick said feeling relieved that Julia had not argued with him. "Now let's take our shower as I'm sure our family is waiting anxiously downstairs so we can tell them the name of all eight of our children."

"Alright," Julia agreed, pulling Patrick into the bathroom and starting the shower turning it as hot as it would go as her muscles needed the hot water in order to relax.

~~~Patrick and Julia~~~

"It's about time, you got down here," said Alanna.

Patrick glared at her and she shut up feeling ashamed of herself for all of them had heard about what had almost happened and if their father hadn't been there would have. The close call reminded everyone that giving birth even for a vampire could be dangerous, despite the fact that it was a totally natural event that had been happening for thousands of years and also that vampires weren't supposed to be able have children anyway.

"So, what are you going to name all these boys?" asked Bella changing the subject in order to avoid an argument. One day Alanna would learn not to open her mouth without thinking, just like one day Jason would learn to do the same. She was still amazed that there was not a single girl amongst the eight of babies because having all boys at one time the odds were astronomical, especially with so many.

"Oh, Patrick and I picked out names not to long ago actually," Julia said. "We picked out quite a few names just in the event we had more than we thought which happened."

Everybody in the den chuckled at that as it had happened in this family a lot with their mother.

"For the oldest we decided on Gideon Jeremy," Patrick said. "Which one is the oldest, I kind of lost track, with everything that was happening."

"Here he is," Alisa said coming over and presenting a beautiful baby boy with a fuzz of brown hair that had just the lightest red tinge to it. The baby looked at Julia and Patrick and his eyes seemed to say hold me mommy so Julia took him from her sister cuddling him close and Gideon relaxed into her embrace seeming content to just be cuddled.

"We decided to name our second born son Connor Tucker," Patrick said and Henry brought over the now named Connor before Patrick could ask which one was the second born.

Patrick took the infant from Henry and studied his son's small face and saw that he also had brown hair with a little bit of red just like Gideon and looked a lot like himself.

"The third son we decided on Lance Isaac," Julia said, "and the fourth Galen Wesley."

Jason brought over the third child to be born from Julia's womb, while Darian came with the fourth and everybody immediately noticed that the two boys had black hair, except for the fact that one looked just like Julia while the other looked like the perfect mix of both of them, with Patrick's nose, shape of the eyes, lips and Julia's cheekbones, forehead, and chin.

"For the fifth we decided on Marco Tobias and the sixth Griffin Albert," Patrick said and was immediately presented with the two beautiful little boys by his two daughters Dana and Moira. Both boys looked like Julia down to having red hair the exact same shade even though the two oldest had brownish red, like a penny, in other words, auburn while the two youngest had pure red that was at least five or six shades lighter and looked almost ginger in certain lights.

"And finally for the seventh, we decided on Devon Bernard," Julia, announced, "and for our eighth and final son Corey Kevin."

The final two sons of Patrick and Julia were brought over by Keegan and Keith who had been holding their two youngest baby brother's very tenderly so as to not hurt them since they were still babies after at all, even if they were vampire babies they could still be hurt at this stage of their lives since all the grownup vampires were much stronger then a mere baby and could hurt them very easily, without meaning too.

The seventh and eighth son of Patrick and Julia also had black hair.

"Every single one of these children is absolutely beautiful," Bella said as she examined all eight of them.

"Prejudiced much?" asked Julia teasing her mother little.

"And you aren't?" Bella asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I'm their mother, I'm supposed to be. Aren't all mother's supposed to think their children are the most handsome or beautiful children in the world, even if it's not true?"

"Well I'm their grandmother so I'm allowed to be prejudiced as well," Bella said her tone teasing.

"Personally I think every single one of them is going to be so handsome that they're going to have to beat the girls off with sticks," Alisa said as she held little Galen whom her nephew had passed her, "but then every vampire I've ever known is inhumanely handsome and yes, I know why they are."

Jasper sat with his arm around Bella's shoulder soaking in the love of his family perfectly content to just remain there for the next week or two as it wasn't to often he was this relaxed and that it was also only a few days until Christmas made him even happier, because most of his family was here and the ones that were missing would be arriving in the next day or two. Also he had eight new grandsons, when the odds had been astronomical that his son and his wife would have all boys without at least one girl, but it had happened and Jasper really didn't mind a bit. He loved his daughters and his granddaughters, fiercely and definitely wouldn't mind having more granddaughters someday, but he loved his sons and grandsons too and wouldn't mind having more of them either although he had indeed been blessed in the fact that he had many more grandsons then granddaughters and the same held true for his own children. Jasper wondered briefly if male children just ran more strongly in his family tree then girls did or if he and Bella had just been lucky.

Patrick's suggestion a few months ago about cutting down on the number of days they did their Christmas feast to just Christmas Eve and New Year's had been a good one since society was advancing all the time and if 500 humans suddenly disappeared even if they were kidnapped from all over the area and a dozen different cities was still likely to bring suspicions eventually, so it was better to do it this way and Bella had concurred. Since they were going to have only a couple of days they only needed about 100 humans and that many would not be likely missed, especially since they were bums, and criminals and were coming from all over the area. If half a dozen humans went missing in one city and a dozen in another it was unlikely to be noticed so long as his family was careful to not be seen or caught on camera.

"Everybody, listen up," Patrick announced, after a few minutes of pleasant conversation. "Julia and I have an announcement to make."

Everybody listened attentively and Jasper nodded at his son to continue.

"Julia and I have decided that due to what happened an hour ago we're not going to have anymore children for at least 50 to 100 years, if ever as neither one of us wants to take the risk."

"Something such as the umbilical cord getting entangled has never happened before," Julia added, "but all of us should have expected it to as we do give birth naturally and we are bound to have some of the same problems that humans do and that is one of them. Both Patrick and I were very lucky that dad had read all those medical books and knew what to do and we were also lucky in the respect that it wasn't something that couldn't be fixed without having a c-section done since that would be impossible thanks to our impenetrable skin."

"What this experience has taught us is that childbirth has its own pitfalls even for our kind," Bella said knowing exactly where Patrick and Julia were coming from. "This does not mean that Jasper and I do not want more grandchildren in the future, it just means we're going to have to be more careful as we don't want to lose any of you."

"We all must remember that childbirth even today can be dangerous, although it's not as dangerous now as it was 2 or 300 years ago with all the medical technology at least not for humans. If every time one of you get pregnant had just a single baby or at most twins or triplets they're would probably be no trouble giving birth at all, since all are normal for a human to have while other multiples are exceedingly rare even in this century without some kind of fertility drug."

"So what do you suggest?" asked Lindsay from where she was sitting with Trey having been silent doing the whole naming of the children.

"Well," Jasper said, "the only thing I can think of right offhand is to remember to remove the necklace after a couple of hours and stop leaving it on for so long as that way you'll probably only get twins or triplets, which is much safer."

"So far we've been lucky, that the one problem we encountered was fixable," Bella added. "If we want our family to continue to expand then we need to start being more careful as it would kill Jasper and I to lose any of you."

"Why didn't any of us think of removing the necklace after two or three hours before this?" asked Troy curiously.

"Probably because we never encountered a problem before the one we had a few hours ago," Gabriel suggested. "Because of the problem Julia had we've been reminded that problems can still occur and that whoever is using the necklace needs to start being more careful and as mom said we were just lucky the problem wasn't more serious and that we didn't lose Julia, Patrick and the unborn children."

Every vampire in the room shuddered at that very real possibility, because if Julia had to be put to death because none of them could get the babies out of her belly and because they didn't want to continue to leave her in such pain for eternity, Patrick would follow her and nobody would be able stop it.

"Maybe we should stop using it at all and just leave it in that safety deposit box permanently since it is so dangerous," Gavin suggested and the other vampires in the room vehemently shook their heads at that.

"No," Alisa and several of the other women said at once.

"I want children someday," Merry added.

"As do I," Alisa concurred.

"And I," said Trevor.

Most of the rest of the vampires in the room concurred that they all wanted children someday, whenever they found their mates.

"Besides it isn't really the amulet itself that's dangerous," Jasper told his son. "It's the fact that the women don't remove it after just two or three hours and they keep it on for days, while making love for all that time."

Gavin nodded conceding that his father had a point, but then again like his brother Bryon, he was gay and would never have children for if he ever found a mate they would more than likely be male and men couldn't have children, not even with the amulet.

"So next time we have somebody that wants to use it we need to remember to remind them to take it off after a couple of hours," Bella said, "and that way the possibility of anything like what happened to Julia will be considerably lessened, although not completely eradicated unfortunately."

"But the odds of such a thing happening again if we do what I suggest are much lower than before and in fact I would say are no more than five to ten percent," Jasper said. "I'm actually surprised that it didn't happen when Bella was pregnant those four times or when Julia was pregnant that first time, so we have been really lucky, which I suppose had to run out sometime."

"Our luck hasn't run out," Bella pointed out logically, "if it had things would've been a lot worse. Maybe what happened was just a reminder that we need to be careful and even if it isn't some kind of warning we should take it as one."

"You're right," Jasper said giving his wife a kiss on the cheek.

"Let's change the subject, shall we, and discuss something happier," Patrick suggested as he didn't want to think about it any longer.

Everybody in the den put the incident to the back of their minds but they would never forget and from now on they would be more cautious when using the Amulet of Artemis in the future.


End file.
